Criminal revision survives death of petitioner where a surviving fine is in issue, allowing review of the conviction itself.

A criminal revision does not automatically abate on the death of the petitioner because the abatement rules in section 431 of the Code of Criminal Procedure apply to appeals, not revisions. The High Court's revisional jurisdiction under sections 435 and 439 is a discretionary supervisory power, and in the absence of an express statutory bar it may continue despite the petitioner's death. Where the revision challenges a sentence of fine that survives against the deceased's estate, the High Court may examine the conviction itself because the validity of the fine cannot be determined without reviewing the conviction that supports it.

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Issues: Whether a criminal revision pending before the High Court abates on the death of the petitioner, and whether the High Court can, in such a revision, examine the conviction itself when a sentence of fine survives against the deceased petitioner's estate.

Analysis: Section 431 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in terms governs appeals and not criminal revisions. The revisional power under section 439, read with section 435, is a discretionary supervisory jurisdiction exercised in aid of justice and does not confer a vested right of appeal or continuation on a litigant. In the absence of any express statutory provision applying abatement rules to criminal revisions, the High Court is not bound to treat a pending revision as abated merely because the petitioner has died. Where the revision concerns a sentence of fine, the question affects the deceased's estate, and the propriety of the fine cannot be effectively examined without going into the correctness of the conviction that supports it.

Conclusion: A criminal revision does not automatically abate on the death of the petitioner, and the High Court may examine the conviction as well as the sentence of fine where it chooses to entertain the revision.

Ratio Decidendi: In the absence of an express statutory bar, the High Court's revisional jurisdiction survives the death of the petitioner and may extend to the conviction itself where determination of a surviving fine requires it.

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