Supreme Court Clarifies That Only the Central Government Can Appeal Acquittals in CBI-Investigated Cases Under Section 378 CrPC

Case Name: State of Chhattisgarh v. Amit Aishwarya Jogi & Connected Appeals
Citation: 2025 INSC 1305
Date of Judgment/Order: 06 November 2025
Bench: Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, Sandeep Mehta, JJ.

Held: The Supreme Court reaffirmed that in cases investigated by the Delhi Special Police Establishment/CBI, the authority to file an appeal against an order of acquittal under Section 378 CrPC lies exclusively with the Central Government. Consequently, the State Government has no locus to file such an appeal. The Court upheld the correctness of the three-Judge Bench decision in Lalu Prasad Yadav v. State of Bihar, declined to refer the issue to a larger Bench, and held that a victim’s appeal under the proviso to Section 372 CrPC is maintainable only for acquittal orders passed after 31 December 2009. However, to ensure that grave allegations do not go unexamined due to technicalities, the Court condoned the substantial delay in the CBI’s appeal and remitted the matter to the High Court for consideration on merits.

Summary: The case arose from the murder of political leader Ramavatar Jaggi in 2003. The State police initially registered an FIR and filed a charge sheet; however, due to dissatisfaction expressed by the victim’s family, the investigation was later transferred to the CBI, which filed a fresh charge sheet implicating, among others, Amit Jogi. The trial court convicted several accused but acquitted Amit Jogi. The State of Chhattisgarh, the CBI, and the de-facto complainant each sought to challenge the acquittal before the High Court. The High Court dismissed the State’s appeal as not maintainable, rejected the victim’s appeal under Section 372 CrPC as being inapplicable to pre-2009 acquittals, and dismissed the CBI’s delayed leave-to-appeal application. Before the Supreme Court, the State challenged the correctness of Lalu Prasad Yadav but the Court held that the earlier judgment correctly interpreted Section 378 CrPC and continues to govern appeals in CBI-investigated matters. The Court found no merit in the State’s and victim’s appeals but held that, considering the gravity of allegations, the High Court should have adopted a liberal approach in condoning delay in the CBI’s application seeking leave to appeal.

Decision: The Supreme Court dismissed the appeals filed by the State of Chhattisgarh and the de-facto complainant, upholding the High Court’s rejection of their challenges as being non-maintainable under Section 378 CrPC and the proviso to Section 372 CrPC respectively. The Court allowed the CBI’s appeal, condoned the delay of 1373 days in filing the application for leave to appeal, and remitted the matter to the High Court to consider the CBI’s application on merits after issuing notice to the respondent-accused. All pending applications were disposed of accordingly.