Criminal Law · Appellate Practice
Criminal Appeal vs Criminal Revision: What's the Difference
When an order goes against you in a criminal case, the first question is not what to argue but what to file. An appeal and a revision are different remedies with different courts, different scope and different timelines — and filing the wrong one usually costs the only opportunity available. This note explains when each applies, which court hears it in Delhi, how long you have, and how we decide which route fits a client's situation.
The Distinction
A right of appeal, a discretion in revision
An appeal is a continuation of the trial before a higher court. Where the statute provides one, the appellate court is obliged to hear the matter and is entitled to reappreciate the entire evidence, reverse findings of fact, alter the conviction, and enhance or reduce the sentence. Nothing is off limits on the record that was before the trial court.
A revision is supervisory. The revisional court is not sitting as a second trial court; it asks whether the order under challenge is vitiated by a jurisdictional error, an illegality, a material irregularity in procedure, or a finding so perverse that no reasonable court could have reached it. Even where an error is shown, interference is discretionary — and the revisional court cannot convert an acquittal into a conviction; at its highest it sets aside the order and remits the matter.
The practical rule follows from this: where an appeal is available, take the appeal. Revision is the remedy for the orders the legislature deliberately left unappealable — the framing of charge, a summoning order, a discharge, the dismissal of a complaint — where a wrong order would otherwise force a client through years of trial with no way to test it.
Side by Side
Appeal and revision compared
| Criminal appeal | Criminal revision | |
|---|---|---|
| What it challenges | A judgment of conviction, an order of acquittal, or the sentence — an order that finally decides the case. | Interlocutory-adjacent and final orders where no appeal is provided: framing or refusal of charge, summoning orders, dismissal of a complaint, refusal to order investigation, discharge, maintenance orders. |
| Nature of the right | A statutory right. Once maintainable, the appellate court must hear the matter on facts and law. | A discretionary supervisory power. The court may decline to interfere even where an error exists. |
| Scope of interference | Full rehearing on the record — evidence can be reappreciated, findings reversed, sentence enhanced or reduced, and in a fit case remand or retrial ordered. | Confined to jurisdictional error, illegality, perversity or a material irregularity. Evidence is not reappreciated as if on appeal. |
| Who can move it | The convicted accused; the State against acquittal or for enhancement; the complainant/victim against acquittal under the proviso to Section 413 BNSS. | Any aggrieved person, including a complainant or victim; the court can also act on its own motion. |
| Usual forum | Sessions Court against a Magistrate's judgment; Delhi High Court against a Sessions Court judgment in a sessions trial. | Sessions Court or Delhi High Court — concurrent, but only one can be availed. |
| Outcome | Conviction confirmed, altered or set aside; sentence modified; acquittal reversed; remand for retrial. | The impugned order is set aside or modified, or the matter is sent back to the trial court to decide afresh in accordance with law. |
Jurisdiction
Which court hears what in Delhi
Appeals. A conviction recorded by a Magistrate is appealable to the Court of Session — for matters tried in the Rohini district, the Sessions Court within the Rohini Court Complex. A conviction recorded by a Sessions Court in a sessions trial, and sentences beyond seven years, are appealable to the Delhi High Court. Convictions by Special Courts under statutes such as the NDPS Act and the prevention-of-corruption law also travel to the High Court. Appeals against acquittal are filed by the State, and by a victim or complainant in the cases the statute permits.
Revisions. The Sessions Court and the Delhi High Court hold concurrent revisional jurisdiction over orders of the courts below. The petitioner elects the forum, but only once: after a revision has been decided by the Sessions Court, a second revision to the High Court against the same order is barred, and the only residual route is the High Court's inherent jurisdiction, exercised sparingly. Where the challenge is to a summoning order or the framing of charge in a matter with an important legal question, going directly to the High Court often preserves the better remedy.
Our appellate and revisional work before the Delhi High Court is described on our criminal lawyer in Delhi High Court page, and the trial-stage work that produces the record on which an appeal is argued on our criminal trial lawyer in Delhi page.
Timelines
How long you have, and how long it takes
An appeal against conviction is ordinarily filed within 30 days of the judgment; a private complainant's appeal against acquittal within 60 days, and the State's within 90 days in specified cases. A revision is expected within 90 days of the order. Delay can be condoned on sufficient cause, but a condonation application starts the matter on the back foot, so the certified copy should be applied for the same day the order is passed — the time taken to supply it is excluded from the computation.
On disposal: an application for suspension of sentence and bail pending appeal is usually taken up within days of filing, and in short-sentence matters is decided at the first hearing. A revision against a summoning or charge order is typically admitted with a stay of proceedings and then heard over a few months. Final hearing of an appeal against conviction depends on the length of the record — a Magistrate appeal in the Sessions Court commonly takes a year to eighteen months, while a High Court appeal in a sessions matter can take longer. The interim order therefore matters as much as the eventual outcome.
Choosing the Route
How we decide which remedy fits
We begin with the order and not the grievance. Is it a final judgment, or an intermediate order? Does the statute give a right of appeal against it? If it does, the appeal is almost always the stronger remedy, because the evidence can be reargued in full rather than tested only for perversity.
If no appeal lies, we ask whether the error is of the kind a revisional court will act on — absence of jurisdiction, a charge framed on material that does not disclose the offence, a summoning order passed without the mandatory inquiry, a discharge granted without considering the record. Grievances about the weight of evidence rarely succeed in revision, and filing one anyway spends the single revision available.
Where the record shows the prosecution should not have begun at all, quashing under Section 528 BNSS may be a better fit than either remedy — see our note on FIR quashing under Section 528 BNSS. And where custody is the immediate problem, the bail remedy is pursued in parallel rather than after the appeal is decided.
FAQ
Appeals and revisions — common questions
- An appeal is a statutory right to have the whole case reheard — the appellate court re-reads the evidence and can substitute its own findings on facts and law. A revision is a supervisory remedy: the court examines whether the order below suffers from an illegality, a jurisdictional error or a material irregularity, and it is discretionary. Put simply, an appeal asks whether the decision was right; a revision asks whether the court below acted lawfully.
- An appeal lies where the statute provides one — principally against a judgment of conviction and sentence, and against an acquittal. Where no appeal is provided, revision is the route: orders framing charge or refusing to discharge, summoning orders in a complaint case, dismissal of a complaint, refusal to direct registration of an FIR, and orders under the maintenance provisions. If an appeal is available, a revision will normally not be entertained.
- An appeal against the judgment of a Magistrate is heard by the Court of Session — for matters tried at Rohini, that is the Sessions Court at the Rohini District Court complex. An appeal against a judgment of a Sessions Court in a sessions trial, and against sentences exceeding seven years, lies to the Delhi High Court. Convictions by a Special Court under statutes such as the NDPS Act go to the Delhi High Court as well.
- Both the Sessions Court and the Delhi High Court have revisional jurisdiction, and the choice is the petitioner's — but the remedy can be exercised only once. If the Sessions Court has decided a revision, a second revision to the High Court on the same order is barred, and the residual route is the High Court's inherent jurisdiction, which is used sparingly. Choosing the forum is therefore a strategic decision, not a formality.
- An appeal against conviction is ordinarily to be filed within 30 days of the judgment (60 days for an appeal against acquittal by a private complainant, and 90 days for the State in specified cases); delay can be condoned on sufficient cause, supported by an application. A revision is expected to be filed within 90 days of the order. In both cases the certified copy of the judgment or order must be applied for immediately, because the time taken to supply it is excluded from the computation.
- Yes. An application for suspension of sentence and bail pending appeal is moved along with the appeal, and in short-sentence cases it is often decided on the first date. Where the conviction is for a grave offence, the appellate court examines the reasoning of the trial court prima facie before releasing the appellant. In a revision, the corresponding relief is a stay of further proceedings before the trial court.
- The revisional court cannot convert an acquittal into a conviction. It may, in an appropriate case and after giving the accused an opportunity of being heard, direct further inquiry or set aside the order and remit the matter — and where the State or the victim moves for enhancement, the High Court may issue notice for enhancement of sentence. The accused then has the right to argue against both conviction and sentence.
- Yes. A victim has a statutory right of appeal against an order of acquittal, an order convicting for a lesser offence, or an inadequate compensation order, and the complainant in a complaint case may appeal with the leave of the High Court. Where no appeal is available on the facts, the victim may seek revision against the order — a route commonly used against discharge and dismissal orders.
- We start with the order itself: is it a final judgment or an intermediate order, and does the statute give a right of appeal against it? If an appeal lies, that is almost always the stronger route, because the evidence can be reargued in full. If no appeal lies, we assess whether the error is one of jurisdiction, legality or perversity — the only grounds a revisional court will act on — and whether the Sessions Court or the Delhi High Court is the better forum given the single-revision bar. Where the record shows the prosecution should not continue at all, quashing under Section 528 BNSS may be a better fit than either.
- Not with us. The same team that conducts the trial at Rohini carries the matter to the Sessions Court or the Delhi High Court, which avoids a fresh reading of a large record and preserves the strategy already built on the evidence. Our Delhi High Court chamber is at the 3rd Floor, Delhi High Court, Pragati Vihar, New Delhi – 110003. Call +91 97115 88833.
Read Next
Related guidance
For the trial stages that produce the record an appeal is argued on, read Criminal Trial Process in Delhi: A Step-by-Step Guide. On quashing as an alternative to challenging orders one by one, see FIR Quashing Under Section 528 BNSS.
Service pages: criminal lawyer in Delhi High Court, criminal trial lawyer in Delhi and bail lawyer in Delhi.