Criminal appeals are argued as if the only outcomes were “allowed” and “dismissed,” but the statute offers a far richer instrument panel. Section 427 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the successor to Section 386 of the CrPC — tells the appellate court precisely what it may do after perusing the record and hearing the parties, and separates the powers available in appeals against acquittal, appeals against conviction and appeals for enhancement. Knowing the panel matters, because relief must be prayed for within it.
The menu, mapped
| Type of appeal | Powers of the appellate court |
|---|---|
| Appeal against acquittal | Reverse and order further inquiry, retrial or committal; or convict and sentence according to law |
| Appeal against conviction | Acquit, discharge or order retrial; alter the finding maintaining the sentence; alter the nature or extent of the sentence without enhancing it; reduce the sentence |
| Appeal for enhancement | Enhance the sentence — only after the accused shows cause, and never beyond the trial court’s competence; the court may instead alter, reduce or acquit |
| Any appeal | Dismiss it where interference is unwarranted; make amendments and consequential or incidental orders that justice requires |
The safeguards built into the section
Two provisos do the constitutional work. The show-cause proviso ensures that no sentence is enhanced behind the accused’s back: the convict facing enhancement is heard, and may use that hearing to attack the conviction itself — enhancement appeals thus reopen the whole case for the accused, a point prosecutors weigh before filing them. The competence proviso anchors appellate sentencing to the trial forum: the appellate court steps into the trial court’s shoes and cannot hand down a punishment that forum could not have imposed. Alongside the section, the broader principle against worsening an appellant’s position in his own appeal — no enhancement in an appeal against conviction — protects the right of appeal from becoming a gamble.
Alteration of findings: the quiet workhorse
The least dramatic power is the most used. Appellate courts routinely alter convictions to cognate offences — murder to culpable homicide not amounting to murder, attempted murder to grievous hurt — where the evidence sustains the lesser ingredient set, maintaining or reducing the sentence accordingly. The discipline is that the altered offence must be one the record supports and the accused had a fair opportunity to meet on the charges framed; alteration is recalibration within the trial’s factual universe, not conviction for a new case. Retrial, by contrast, is the remedy of last resort, reserved for trials vitiated by fundamental illegality — wrong court, denial of opportunity, charges so defective that no fair verdict could emerge — because it subjects the accused to the ordeal twice.
Framing prayers with the section in mind
Effective appellate drafting prays in the statute’s own vocabulary. An appellant’s memo should seek acquittal, with alteration and sentence reduction in the alternative — expressly, because courts grant alternatives more readily when invited. The State’s appeal against acquittal should identify which limb it seeks: outright conviction on the existing record, or retrial where the trial itself miscarried. And every memo should remember the consequential-orders power: set-off of custody undergone, disposal of property, fine and compensation adjustments are all orders the appellate court can and will pass in the same breath — if asked.
Practice pointer: in appeals where alteration to a lesser offence is the realistic outcome, address the sentence for the lesser offence squarely in submissions — custody already undergone, mitigation, fine capacity. Appellants who argue only acquittal often leave the most consequential discretion of the hearing entirely to the court.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice or a solicitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can the court do in an appeal against acquittal?
It may reverse the acquittal and direct that further inquiry be made, or that the accused be retried or committed for trial, or find the accused guilty and pass sentence according to law. The power is complete, but appellate courts exercise it with the settled restraint that attaches to acquittals: the presumption of innocence stands reinforced by the trial court's verdict, and a plausible view taken below is not disturbed merely because another view is possible.
What can the court do in an appeal against conviction?
Four things: reverse the finding and sentence and acquit or discharge the accused, or order a retrial by a competent court; alter the finding while maintaining the sentence; alter the nature or the extent of the sentence (or both) — but not so as to enhance it in such an appeal; or, with or without altering the finding, reduce the sentence.
Can a sentence ever be enhanced in appeal?
Yes, but only in an appeal for enhancement of sentence, and the section's first proviso forbids enhancement unless the accused has had an opportunity of showing cause against it — in which the accused may also plead for acquittal or reduction. The second proviso adds that the appellate court cannot inflict greater punishment for the offence than might have been inflicted by the court competent to try it.
Do these powers apply to the Sessions Court and the High Court alike?
Yes. Section 427 governs whichever court hears the appeal under Chapter XXXI — the Sessions Court hearing appeals from Magistrates as much as the High Court hearing appeals from Sessions trials. The same menu, with the same safeguards, travels up the hierarchy, which is why appellate strategy reads the same at both levels.