Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
धारा 417
No appeal in petty cases
Notwithstanding anything in section 415, there shall be no appeal by a convicted person in any of the following cases, namely: —
(a) where a High Court passes only a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or of fine not exceeding one thousand rupees, or of both such imprisonment and fine;
(b) where a Court of Session passes only a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or of fine not exceeding two hundred rupees, or of both such imprisonment and fine;
(c) where a Magistrate of the first class passes only a sentence of fine not exceeding one hundred rupees; or
(d) where, in a case tried summarily, a Magistrate empowered to act under section 283 passes only a sentence of fine not exceeding two hundred rupees:
Provided that an appeal may be brought against any such sentence if any other punishment is combined with it, but such sentence shall not be appealable merely on the ground—
(i) that the person convicted is ordered to furnish security to keep the peace; or
(ii) that a direction for imprisonment in default of payment of fine is included in the sentence; or
(iii) that more than one sentence of fine is passed in the case, if the total amount of fine imposed does not exceed the amount hereinbefore specified in respect of the case.
यह क्यों है
This provision reduces the burden on appellate courts by filtering out appeals over trivial punishments, where the cost and delay of an appeal would likely outweigh whatever relief a person could realistically gain. The specific rupee and time thresholds were set decades ago and remain a legacy of the CrPC framework, continuing section 376 of the CrPC, 1973 essentially unchanged, including its now quite low monetary limits.
आम गलतफहमियाँ
मिथक: Being ordered to give a security bond always makes a sentence appealable.
तथ्य: A security-for-good-behaviour direction alone does not make an otherwise petty sentence appealable under this section.