Dismissal of Criminal Complaint for Non-Prosecution Results in Acquittal; Revision Under Section 397 CrPC Not Maintainable

Aadrikaa Legal Services (ALS)- Law I Litigation I Arbitration

Date: 15.09.2026

Dismissal of Criminal Complaint for Non-Prosecution Results in Acquittal; Revision Under Section 397 CrPC Not Maintainable

The Karnataka High Court has held that where a criminal complaint is dismissed for non-prosecution and the dismissal consequentially results in the acquittal of the accused, the appropriate remedy is an appeal and not a revision petition under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC).

Justice Ravi V. Hosmani, deciding three connected criminal petitions filed by Ziaulla Sheriff, set aside orders of the Bengaluru Sessions Courts which had entertained revision petitions and restored the criminal proceedings. The High Court dismissed those revision petitions as not maintainable, while reserving liberty to the complainants to avail other remedies in accordance with law.

The decision bears neutral citation 2026:KHC:40564 and arose from Criminal Petition Nos. 1117, 1116 and 1118 of 2019.

Background of the Case

• The connected petitions arose from private criminal complaints in which Ziaulla Sheriff was an accused. According to the petitioner, the complainants failed to appear despite being given sufficient opportunities. The trial court consequently dismissed the complaints for non-prosecution, resulting in consequential orders of acquittal.
• Instead of challenging the acquittal orders through appeals, the complainants approached the District/Sessions Court by filing revision petitions under Section 397 CrPC.
• Those revision petitions were allowed and the criminal proceedings were restored. The accused therefore approached the Karnataka High Court under Section 482 CrPC, challenging the revisional orders.

Accused Argues Appeal, Not Revision, Was the Proper Remedy

• The principal argument advanced on behalf of Ziaulla Sheriff was that dismissal of the complaints for non-prosecution had resulted in his acquittal.
• Therefore, once an order of acquittal had come into existence, the complainants could not circumvent the appellate remedy by filing revision petitions under Section 397 CrPC.

The petitioner relied upon three precedents:

V.K. Bhat v. G. Ravi Kishore & Anr., (2016) 13 SCC 243; S. Rama Krishna v. S. Rami Reddy (Dead) by LRs & Ors., (2008) 5 SCC 535; and Prakash v. Raju, 2025 SCC OnLine Kar 11067.

It was also argued that the underlying dispute was essentially civil in nature but had been given a criminal colour, and that resort to revision instead of appeal demonstrated an attempt to prolong the proceedings and constituted abuse of process.

Complainants Defend Restoration of Criminal Proceedings

• The complainants opposed the petitions, contending that the trial court had dismissed the proceedings merely because of their non-appearance and had not decided the complaints on merits.
• Accordingly, once sufficient cause for non-appearance was demonstrated, the revisional court was justified in setting aside the dismissal and restoring the proceedings.
• Alternatively, it was argued that if the High Court found the revisions not maintainable, liberty should be granted to pursue the appropriate appellate remedy.

Karnataka High Court Examines Supreme Court and High Court Precedents

• The High Court examined the judgments in V.K. Bhat, S. Rama Krishna and Prakash and found that they established a clear principle concerning the nature of an order dismissing a criminal complaint for non-prosecution.
• The Court held that such dismissal “would consequentially result in acquittal of accused” and is therefore an appealable order.
• Consequently, a revision petition under Section 397 CrPC against such an order would not be maintainable.
• This distinction was decisive. The High Court did not need to enter into the merits of the underlying criminal allegations because the revisional proceedings themselves had been pursued through an incorrect statutory remedy.

Revision Cannot Substitute Statutory Appeal Against Acquittal

• The ruling reinforces an important aspect of criminal procedure: the legal character and consequence of the trial court’s order determine the appropriate remedy, rather than merely the terminology used to describe the dismissal.
• Where dismissal of a complaint for non-prosecution has the legal consequence of acquitting the accused, the complainant must pursue the remedy available against the acquittal. A revision under Section 397 cannot be used as a substitute for the prescribed appellate route.
• On this ground alone, the High Court held that all three petitions filed by the accused deserved to be allowed.

Revisional Orders Set Aside

• Applying the above principle, the Karnataka High Court set aside three revisional orders:
• the order dated 5 September 2018 in Criminal Revision Petition No. 400/2017; the order dated 5 September 2018 in Criminal Revision Petition No. 401/2017; and the order dated 23 October 2018 in Criminal Revision Petition No. 430/2017.
• The corresponding revision petitions were dismissed as not maintainable.

Liberty Granted to Complainants to Pursue Other Remedies

• Importantly, the High Court did not permanently foreclose the complainants from pursuing remedies available under law.
• Referring particularly to the approach followed in Prakash v. Raju, the Court reserved liberty to avail other remedies in accordance with law.
• Thus, the judgment is principally a ruling on the maintainability of revision proceedings, rather than a final adjudication of the merits of the underlying allegations.

Key Legal Principle

The legal principle emerging from the judgment can be stated as:

Where dismissal of a criminal complaint for non-prosecution consequentially results in acquittal of the accused, the order is appealable. A revision petition under Section 397 CrPC challenging such an acquittal is not maintainable, and the complainant must pursue the remedy available in appeal or such other remedy as may be permissible in law.

The ruling also underlines that a revisional court cannot restore proceedings through a revision where the statutory scheme requires the acquittal order to be challenged through the appropriate appellate mechanism.

Why the Judgment Matters

The judgment provides useful guidance in private-complaint proceedings where complaints are dismissed because of the complainant’s absence. The procedural distinction between an appeal against acquittal and a criminal revision is substantive because the jurisdiction, statutory requirements and scope of scrutiny differ.

The Karnataka High Court’s decision confirms that litigants cannot choose revision merely because the original dismissal occurred on account of non-prosecution rather than after a full trial on merits. What matters is that the dismissal resulted in acquittal.

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Source: Karnataka High Court

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