Phoolsingh Bhanvarlal Bairwa vs State Of Gujarat
2026 Latest Caselaw 276 Guj

Gujarat High Court

Phoolsingh Bhanvarlal Bairwa vs State Of Gujarat on 27 January, 2026

                                                                                                                     NEUTRAL CITATION




                             R/CR.A/648/2017                                        ORDER DATED: 27/01/2026

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                                   IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD

                             R/CRIMINAL APPEAL (AGAINST ACQUITTAL) NO. 648 of 2017

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                                               PHOOLSINGH BHANVARLAL BAIRWA
                                                           Versus
                                                  STATE OF GUJARAT & ANR.
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                      Appearance:
                      MR K R MISHRA(6312) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
                      MR ASHISH B BENKAR(12315) for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 2
                      MR YASH K DAVE(10269) for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 2
                      MS MEGHA CHITALIYA, APP for the Opponent(s)/Respondent(s) No. 1
                      ==========================================================

                        CORAM:HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE SANJEEV J.THAKER

                                                          Date : 27/01/2026

                                                            ORAL ORDER

1. This is an acquittal appeal filed under Section 378

of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred

to as `the Code' for short) by the complainant against the

judgment and order impugned passed by the learned trial

Court, whereby the learned trial Court had acquitted the

respondent/s/accused of the charge under Section 138 of the

Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (hereinafter referred to as

the `NI Act' for short).

2. Heard learned advocate for the parties. Learned

APP has submitted that this matter is required to be

transferred in view of the recent decision of this Court

passed in Criminal Misc. Application No.12753 of 2019 with

Criminal Misc. Application No.12908 of 2019.

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R/CR.A/648/2017 ORDER DATED: 27/01/2026

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3. Before entering into the merits of this case, this

Court deems it proper to refer to the latest decision rendered

by this Court in the case of Shivsinh Ganpatsinh Solanki V/s

State of Gujarat & Anr. being Criminal Miscellaneous Application Nos. 12753 of 2019 with 12908 of 2019 on 23.12.2025, wherein, after considering the various judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, more particularly, the

judgment in the matter of M/s Celestium Financial V/s A.Gyanasekaran etc. reported in 2025 INSC 804, has

observed and held that the Complainant, in a complaint

under Section 138 of the N.I. Act, being a Victim, has a

specific right to appeal under proviso of Section 372 of the

Code to the Court which is immediately superior in hierarchy

i.e., the Sessions Court. Therefore, the applications for leave to appeal/appeals which are pending before this Court can be

disposed of with a direction to transfer the said

application/appeal to the concerned Sessions Court.

4. In view of the above, learned advocate for the

petitioner requested to transfer the appeal to the concerned

Sessions Court.

5. In view of the said request, this appeal is

disposed of with a direction to the Registry to transfer the

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R/CR.A/648/2017 ORDER DATED: 27/01/2026

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appeal to the concerned Sessions Court. After it is

transferred to the concerned Sessions Court, it has to be

treated as an Appeal under the proviso under Section 372 of

the Code (Section 413 of BNSS) and numbered accordingly.

The Registry is directed to transfer the entire record of the

case, including the certified copies of the order impugned and

record & proceedings, if lying with this Court, to the

concerned lower Appellate Court, forthwith.

6. Considering that the matter has been pending

since the year 2017, the learned lower Appellate Court is

required to make endeavour to dispose of the matter as

expeditiously as possible, preferably within a period of two

years from the date of receipt of the matter. It is clarified

that this Court has not gone into the merits of the matter at this stage.

(SANJEEV J.THAKER,J) URIL RANA