Complainant in Section 138 NI Act proceedings is a victim entitled to appeal acquittal before the Sessions Court.

The appellant, acting as the original complainant, filed a complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments (NI) Act, 1881. On 17.01.2019, the 15th Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat, passed a judgment acquitting the respondent-accused

The appellant preferred an appeal against this acquittal before the High Court of Gujarat under Section 378 of the CrPC/Section 419 of the BNSS

During the pendency of the appeal, the respondent raised a jurisdictional objection based on recent judicial precedents regarding the forum of appeal for victims in cheque dishonor cases

the proviso to Section 372 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) (corresponding to Section 413 of the BNSS), which grants a 'victim' the right to prefer an appeal against an order of acquittal to the court to which an appeal ordinarily lies against the sentence

a complainant in a Section 138 NI Act proceeding is a 'victim' as defined under Section 2(wa) of the CrPC and possesses an absolute right to appeal under Section 372

High Court's own ruling in Shivsinh Ganpatsinh Solanki v. State of Gujarat regarding the hierarchy of appellate forums

The Court observed that although the matter regarding the complainant's status as a 'victim' has been referred to a larger bench by the Supreme Court in Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 12350/2024, the current binding law as per Celestium Financial dictates that a complainant and a victim are one and the same in Section 138 proceedings

The Court reasoned that since the victim has an unconditional right to appeal to the immediately superior court (the Sessions Court), the insistence on seeking special leave to appeal from the High Court under Section 378(4) would contradict the legislative intent of the proviso to Section 372

Consequently, because the Sessions Court is the immediate superior hierarchy to the Magistrate who passed the acquittal, that is the appropriate forum for the appeal

The High Court disposed of the appeal by directing the Registry to transfer the entire case record and proceedings to the concerned Sessions Court at Surat. The Sessions Court was directed to treat the matter as an appeal under the proviso to Section 372 of the CrPC/Section 413 of the BNSS and to dispose of it as expeditiously as possible