Section 426 BNSS: Procedure for Hearing Appeals Not Dismissed Summarily

Section 426 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 lays down the procedure an Appellate Court must follow when an appeal is not dismissed summarily. It deals with notice of hearing, supply of grounds of appeal, calling for the case record, hearing the parties and the restriction applicable when the appeal challenges only the severity of sentence.

What Section 426 BNSS provides

Once an Appellate Court decides not to reject an appeal at the summary stage under the preceding provision, Section 426 requires the Court to move to a regular hearing process. The provision ensures that the persons and authorities specified by law receive notice of the hearing and, where required, a copy of the grounds of appeal.

The Court must ordinarily call for the record of the case and hear the parties. A limited exception applies where the appeal concerns only the extent or legality of the sentence; in such a case, the appeal may be disposed of without calling for the record.

Section 426 BNSS - statutory text

Meaning and procedure under Section 426

1. Notice of the hearing

If the appeal survives the summary dismissal stage, the Appellate Court must give notice of the time and place of hearing to the appellant or the appellant's advocate and to the State Government officer appointed for the purpose.

2. Notice to complainant in complaint cases

Where the appeal arises from a conviction in a case instituted upon complaint, notice must also be given to the complainant.

3. Notice to accused in specified appeals

If the appeal is under Section 418 or Section 419, notice must be given to the accused. The prescribed officer, complainant and accused, as applicable, are also to be furnished with a copy of the grounds of appeal.

4. Calling for the trial court record

The Appellate Court must obtain the record of the case if the record is not already before it. This enables the Court to decide the appeal on the material forming part of the original proceedings.

5. Exception for sentence-only appeals

If the appeal concerns only the extent or legality of the sentence, the Court may dispose of it without calling for the record. The proviso gives the Appellate Court discretion for this limited category of appeal.

6. Restriction where only severity of sentence is challenged

When the sole ground of appeal from conviction is that the sentence is too severe, the appellant cannot ordinarily argue any other ground. A different ground may be urged only with the leave of the Court.

Key points at a glance

• Section 426 applies after an appeal has not been dismissed summarily.
• Notice of the hearing must be given to the persons specified in sub-section (1).
• Copies of the grounds of appeal must be supplied to the specified officer, complainant and accused where applicable.
• The Appellate Court ordinarily calls for the record and hears the parties.
• A sentence-only appeal may be decided without calling for the record.
• If severity of sentence is the only ground, other grounds require leave of the Court.

Related BNSS provisions on criminal appeals

Section 426 operates within Chapter XXXI of the BNSS dealing with appeals. The immediately connected provisions include Section 425 on summary dismissal of appeal and Section 427 on powers of the Appellate Court. These provisions should be read together when examining the procedural stages of a criminal appeal.

Official legal sources

Updated for the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 as in force from 1 July 2024.