CRIMINAL APPEALS, REVISION

AND MISCELLANEOUS
APPLICATIONS
Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

An appeal under criminal law is a creature of statute. This means that if it is not provided
for in law, then no appeal would lie. [See Chapter XXIX of CrPC]. The remedies of filing writs
before the High Court as well as a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court,
however, remain open against any order. However, the grounds which can be raised in
these types of petitions are different from an appeal. Where an appeal is provided for, the
appellant will be heard and have a chance to present detailed arguments. However, in case
of a writ petition or an SLP there is a separate hearing on the admissibility of the matter
itself, which can last for as little as 5 to 20 seconds. In an admissibility hearing the court
decides whether the matter is worth hearing at length at all or not. Only when the matter is
treated to be admissible will the court go into detail.

These will be discussed in the modules for drafting of a criminal SLP.

Common Mistakes:
● Filing Appeals for which no appeals lie: Appeals are necessarily statutory in nature and
prohibited for certain types of petty cases or in cases where the Accused has
entered a guilty plea in court. So you would need to ensure that you check that your
case does not fall within the prohibitions imposed on appeals in the CrPC.

● Applying to the wrong court in appeal: The CrPC prescribes a particular hierarchy of
courts to whom appeals can lie. Appealing to a forum other than that which is
prescribed is detrimental to your client as the appeal will not be entertained.

● Appealing under the wrong section of law: Appeals which are filed under the wrong
section of the law may not be permitted.

● Appealing beyond the prescribed period of limitation for hearing appeals: Appeals filed
beyond the period of limitation prescribed under the Limitation Act are not liable to
be heard except in cases where there is an application for condonation of delay
which accompanies the appeal. Even then, it is not a matter of right for the appellant
to have the appeal filed beyond the period of limitation to be heard.

● Appealing against an interim order: Since appeals can only be filed against certain
judgments, no appeal can be filed against interim orders or orders which do not
decide a case in finality. This is different from civil cases, where certain orders are
appealable (Order 43, Code of Civil Procedure).

● Not addressing an adverse finding: This is a major problem and requires to be

properly addressed. You are filing an appeal for the reason that there is something
or several things which aggrieve you. You must be able to address the negative
findings against you made by the lower court in your appeal. The key to a successful
appeal would be to be able to answer the points where the court has found against
you and be able to convince the appellate court that the lower court either erred or
misappreciated the evidence.

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Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

How to handle your first Appeal case:

● Study the facts of the case:

Never hide facts. It is unethical and this will be taken against you by the court.
However, you should interpret them in a manner which suits you best.

The key to a good defence is to ensure that with a similar set of facts as what you
are relying upon, you are able to prove a different story which saves your client from
criminal liability.

● Study the orders passed by the trial court and the testimony of the witnesses.

● Study the law on the points you intend to raise.

● As Jerome Michael, a Professor of Law at Columbia University said, “If you have the
law, hammer the law, if you have the facts, hammer the facts, if you have neither,
hammer the table.” Determine what your emphasis will be on: facts, law, oral
arguments or a combination thereof.

● Learn to manage your client’s expectations – refer to a separate discussion on this

issue in this course.

● Know the format of the appeal (explained below).

Format of the Appeal: This is a sample, a precise format may vary from state to state. Pay
heed to the format, as you don’t want your appeal to be delayed because of technical
grounds.

● Cover-page;

● Index;

● Memo of Parties;

● Opening Sheet;

● Grounds of Appeal;

● Affidavit of Appellant in Support of Appeal;

● Certified Copy of the Impugned Order (Impugned order means the order(s) which
is/are under challenge);

● Certified Copy of the Documents Relied Upon;

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Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

● Certified Copy of the Testimony Relied Upon;

● Miscellaneous Applications:

❏ Application for Condonation of Delay

❏ Application for Suspension of Sentence

Details and Samples of the Different Components of a Criminal

Appeal
● Cover-page: Needs to mention the Court before which it is being presented, the
names of the leading parties and their role in the proceeding, the names of the
counsel for the appellants.

● Index: Needs to mention all the different segments of the appeal along with page
numbers. The names of the counsel for the appellant are also to be mentioned.

● Memo of Parties: Needs to mention all the parties in the matter as well as their
designation. Ensure that no new party is added at the appellate stage.

● Opening Sheet- A summary of the matter. Needs to mention:

1. The case number appealed from;

2. What sections of which act have been charged against the accused person;

3. The date of conviction and sentence;

4. Name of the judge, designation and court appealed from;

5. Sentence awarded or acquittal (This would also include time served and
whether benefit of sentence undergone has been granted);

● Factual Summary and Narration of the Documents relied upon:

1. This does not need to be a separate heading, however it is important to

explain the factual matrix of the case as well as the decision of the court
from which an appeal is filed. This should be in your own words, in a crisp
format, such that the judge understands the matter and the documents you
have relied on from your perspective from a quick reading.

● Grounds of Appeal:

1. This is perhaps the most important part of the appeal. This will state as to
what issues are being raised to support the case of the appellant.

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Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

2. You can either follow the line and pattern of reasoning followed by the Trial
Court or else you can follow a chronological sequence. Most lawyers
however prefer to raise their strongest points first and then make the
remaining points later.

● Tip for identifying grounds of appeal:

1. Broadly, in the appeal against conviction you should try and raise grounds
which point out discrepancies between statements of one witness with
another witness or between a witness’s statement and the documents relied
upon. In an appeal against acquittal, you should point out where the witness
statements or documents corroborate each other which would drive home
the guilt of the accused person.

2. Remember that the facts of the case and the trial court’s judgment will form
the basis of the appeal - where you will have to point out failures of the trial
court to appreciate or consider relevant evidence while arriving at a
conclusion, failure to draw a specific inference, or incorrect view of a point
of law. You should read this and try to visualize how the court has drawn
inference from the facts. A quick task is given at the end of the judgment.
Even if you do not have the original fact scenario, but imagine you are
contemplating an appeal from this judgment. Try to consider identifying
parts of the judgment where you would like to go back to the available
evidence and create a different story. These are your potential grounds of
appeal. If you arrive at a different inference on some points after referring to
the facts (where possible), those points form the actual grounds of appeal in
your case. You should craft grounds on portions or testimony which are
relevant to your case.

3. There will also be grounds which invoke principles of criminal jurisprudence

(such as burden of proof, standard of proof, misapplication of evidentiary
principles) – to identify these grounds you will have to use prior knowledge
of criminal law principles and apply them to the facts. Direct mention or any
hint about these grounds will be absent in the trial judgment.

4. See the attached format on the grounds of appeal. You will notice that some
grounds are very general, while others are very specific.

5. Note: In civil drafting, you are generally, as a rule, not permitted to raise
grounds which are not mentioned in the pleadings. However, in criminal
drafting, you can raise additional grounds not mentioned in the pleadings.

● Affidavit of Appellant in Support of Appeal

1. You should ensure that the affidavit supporting the appeal is duly executed
and notarized. For an individual, you would only need his signature along

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Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

with a notarial authentication. If you are representing a company or an

artificial entity, then along with the signature of the authorized signatory of
such entity and a notarial authentication, you may also need a board
resolution (in case of companies) or a letter of authority/minutes authorizing
a representative (in case of a Registered Society etc.) as well as a stamp
stating “Authorised Signatory” along with the name of the artificial entity.

● Certified Copy of the Order, Documents Relied Upon and the Testimonies
Relied Upon

1. These are the materials which will go along with the appeal as Annexures. It
is important that these are properly named and numbered as required in
the factual summary and narration of documents.

Criminal Revision:
It is also important to note that while an appeal only lies against final judgments, a revision
can lie under section 397, CrPC against orders which are not interlocutory but final orders.
This essentially means orders which finally determine the course of a trial such as
disallowing a question during examination of witnesses, not permitting some additional
documents or witnesses to be taken on record. It is however not allowed against
interlocutory orders, for example, orders setting the next date of evidence of a witness
already under examination etc.

Furthermore, unlike an appeal which permits the Appellant to invite the higher Court to
reexamine both the facts and the law, a revision requires to be more pinpointed and
limited in its scope raising one or a few specific issues related to only question of law.

Several of the tips discussed above for appeal will also equally apply for revision petitions
and therefore are not being repeated here.

● Miscellaneous Applications: This is an extremely important component, as you

might want to make a particular request to the court (or address a legal objection to
your filing) before it considers or dismisses the appeal. The two most common kinds
of miscellaneous applications are provided below (condonation of delay and
suspension of sentence).

1. Application for Condonation of Delay

● If you are for some reason unable to file an appeal within the time limit
prescribed under the Limitation Act, 1963, you must file an application for
Condonation of Delay stating the number of days of delay in filing the
appeal as well as the reasons for such delay.

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Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

● Note: Different judges may take different views on delay. While some
judges will condone relatively long delays, some judges may want a
detailed explanation on even a few days delay.

2. Application for Suspension of Sentence

● Suspension prevents the sentence from execution for a certain period of

time. We’ll explain this in another way. The concept of bail entitles an
accused not to be held in custody until guilt is established at the trial (so
long as he or she is willing to cooperate with the investigation, participate
in court proceedings and not tamper evidence). Even after conviction at
trial, there is a chance that the accused may be held innocent in appeal.
Can the accused be protected from the applicability of the sentence in
that case, or should he or she be imprisoned until the appellate court
passes its judgment? The appeal can take some time to be finally
decided. This is where an application for suspension of sentence needs to
be made (simultaneously with the appeal). Sentences can be suspended
by the appellate court whereby the Accused is not required to surrender
himself to be sent to custody or required to pay the fine for the period of
suspension. This is something which should be done to prevent
inconvenience to your client.

● Practically the appeal is filed on the same day as the judgment. The CrPC
prescribes a 30 day period to file an appeal. Does that mean that an
accused (who is convicted at trial) must be imprisoned until an appeal is
filed? No – many trial courts can suspend the operation of their own
sentence for a period of 30 days, so that appeal can be filed. [See Section
389, CrPC]

● Note: Suspension is possible only if the sentence passed is less than 3

years’ imprisonment.

Problem:

On 12.2.2014, Mr. Iqbal, Inspector of Police received confidential information that a

building owned by Mr. Kumaran, a jeweller, near INA Market bus stop was planning to be
looted on 13.2.2014 at around 2 p.m. by one person. Mr. Iqbal conveyed this information to
the INA Market Police Station where he was SHO and formed a raiding party comprising of
Mr. Dinesh a Sub Inspector and Mr. Vishesh, a constable of the INA Market Police station.
Mr. Vishesh in plain clothes took up position at around 12 p.m. in front of the INA Market
bus stop near Mr. Kumaran’s house and was to give a signal to Mr. Iqbal. At around 1.45
am, one person was seen walking into Mr. Kumaran’s building carrying a bag. Mr. Vishesh
immediately gave a signal and Mr. Iqbal and Mr. Dinesh who were lying in wait entered the
building and confronted the Accused.

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Criminal Appeals, Revision and Miscellaneous Applications

The Accused said his name was Naveen Kumar and he was a locksmith. On a search of his
person and belongings, it was found that there was a hammer, lock-picking tools and a
drill. He was arrested and produced before a Magistrate having the jurisdiction of INA
Market area at 4 pm on 13.2.2014 itself. The Accused was remanded to police custody for 3
days. The Magistrate on 15.2.2014, remanded the Accused to judicial custody for 14 days
and his custody kept on being extended.

The police on 17.3.2014 filed a Charge sheet under sections 380, 447, 448, 453 r/w Section
511 of the Indian Penal Code. Charges were framed on 21.3.2014 and the Accused pleaded
not guilty and claimed trial for offences under sections 380, 447, 448, 453 r/w Section 511
of the Indian Penal Code. Mr. Iqbal deposed as PW-1, SI Dinesh deposed as PW-2, Const.
Vishesh deposed as PW-3. The Accused in his statement under section 313 CrPC stated that
he had been told by Mr. Rajneesh Pandey of M/s Godfrey Locks and Safes Pvt. Ltd. that Mr.
Kumaran may have work relating to locks and safes and he had gone to his house to get
work and not with the intention of breaking into the house and stealing. The Accused also
led defence evidence through DW-1 Mr. Rajneesh Pandey of M/s Godfrey Safes and Locks
Pvt. Ltd.

After conclusion of trial, the Magistrate’s Court convicted the Accused and sentenced him
to 2 years Simple Imprisonment along with total amount of fine of Rs. 10,000/- failing which
the Accused would have to spend an additional 30 days under Simple Imprisonment.
Task:

You are representing Naveen Kumar. Draft an appeal on his behalf after going through the
impugned order and judgment, documents supplied and witness statements.

Available documents for drafting the appeal:

1) Judgment and order on sentence;

2) Witness testimony;

3) Seizure Memo/ Personal search-cum-arrest memo.

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