As the law stood in 2025, in which court may the complainant file an appeal against an order of…

A Section 138 case is instituted on complaint, so the complainant could always appeal against an acquittal to the High Court after obtaining special leave under Section 378(4) CrPC (Section 419(4) BNSS). In Celestium Financial v. A. Gnanasekaran (2025) the Supreme Court held that such a complainant is also a "victim", and may appeal as of right under the proviso to Section 372 CrPC (proviso to Section 413 BNSS). That appeal lies to the court to which an appeal ordinarily lies against a conviction by the trial court, which is the Court of Session where a Magistrate tried the case. So the complainant may approach "Either Court of Session or High Court".

"High Court" alone and "Court of session" alone each state only one of the two routes, and the Chief Judicial Magistrate has no appellate jurisdiction over acquittals.