Bouncing the Boundaries: Should Section 138 NI Act Complainants be Treated as “Victims” under Section 372 CrPC? – Part 1

This piece examines whether complainants under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, can be treated as “victims” for the purpose of invoking the proviso to Section 372 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, in light of the recent Supreme Court Judgement in M/s Celestium Financial v. A. Gnanasekaran & Ors. The article is divided into two parts. Part I begins by tracing the legislative history of the CrPC (Amendment) Act, 2008 that introduced the proviso to Section 372, drawing upon various seminal reports to demonstrate that the provision was designed to empower remediless victims of crime, and not complainants pursuing monetary claims that are civil in nature. Against this backdrop, Part I argues that Section 138 complainants already have recourse under Section 378(4) CrPC, which requires special leave of the High Court before an appeal against acquittal may be entertained.