(1) The High Court or any Sessions Judge may call for and examine the record of any proceeding before any inferior Criminal Court situate within its or his local jurisdiction for the purpose of satisfying itself or himself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of any finding, sentence or order, recorded or passed, and as to the regularity of any proceedings of such inferior Court, and may, when calling, for such record, direct that the execution of any sentence or order be suspended, and if the accused is in confinement that he be released on his own bond or bail bond pending the examination of the record.
Explanation — —All Magistrates, whether Executive or Judicial, and whether exercising original or appellate jurisdiction, shall be deemed to be inferior to the Sessions Judge for the purposes of this sub-section and of section 439.
(2) The powers of revision conferred by sub-section (1) shall not be exercised in relation to any interlocutory order passed in any appeal, inquiry, trial or other proceeding.
(3) If an application under this section has been made by any person either to the High Court or to the Sessions Judge, no further application by the same person shall be entertained by the other of them.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 438
Section 438 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 empowers High Courts and Sessions Courts to call for and examine trial records in the exercise of revisional jurisdiction.
Sub-section (3) bars a second revision by the same person before the High Court if they already availed revision before the Sessions Judge.
Section 438 is a powerful supervisory shield against jurisdictional excesses and procedural illegalities. Defense practitioners must ensure that the impugned order qualifies as an 'intermediate order' rather than a purely procedural interlocutory order to overcome the statutory bar in Section 438(2).