The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition seeking transfer of a case to another court on the ground that the Magistrate presently hearing the case had met a Bharatiya Janta Party leader in his chamber.
A Single Bench of Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar passed the order on October 5, while hearing a petition filed by one Himanshu Singh.
The petition sought quashing of the Bahraich District Magistrate order of September 22, in case Himanshu Singh vs Pushpa Singh, registered at Police Station Visheshwarganj, District Bahraich. The plea prayed for transfer of case to any other court of Sub-Divisional Magistrate of District Bahraich in the interest of justice.
The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that transfer application under Section 411 CrPC was filed on the ground that the husband of opposite party no 2 namely Udai Pratap Singh is a local BJP leader and has contested election as member of Jila Panchayat from ward no 46 of Visheshwarganj, District Bahraich and he meets the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in his chamber and due to this reason, the petitioner has a suspicion that he may not get justice from the hands of the Sub Divisional Magistrate before whom the proceedings under Section 145 CrPC are pending.
Apart from this, there is no other ground to take in the petition for transferring or withdrawal of the pending proceedings under Section 145 Cr.P.C. from the concerned court.
The Additional Government Advocate opposed the prayer of the petitioner, submitting that apart from this bald assertion, nothing has been pleaded by the petitioner, nor in support whereof any material has been filed either before the Court or before the District Magistrate Bahraich, who has passed the order.
“There is no illegality in the order. On due consideration to the arguments advanced by the Counsels for the parties as well as perusal of the record, it appears that simply because the husband of respondent no 2 is a member of BJP from a particular ward, the petitioner is under apprehension that he may not get justice, however, he has not filed any material in support of the case to show as to why he will not get justice,” the Court observed.
It said, “So far as the contention of the petitioner that the husband of respondent no 2 met the Sub-Divisional Magistrate is concerned, the same is also misconceived.
“First of all, it is not supported with any material to substantiate these pleadings, even otherwise if it is taken to be true, the Executive Officers such as Sub-Divisional Magistrates do various administrative functions, wherein they are supposed to meet the general public in day-to-day basis for discharging his duties and regular Tehsil Divas are hosted in every Tehsil at least once in a week, where the general members of public come and meet them. This alone cannot be a ground for transferring or withdrawing the case from a particular court.
“The order does not suffer from any illegality as while passing the said order, the District Magistrate Bahraich has recorded the reasons as to why the prayer of the petitioner has been rejected. I am satisfied with the reasoning recorded by the District Magistrate. The petition lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed,” added the High Court.
The prayer made by the petitioner is refused, however, in the interest of justice, it is provided that the pending proceedings under Section 145 CrPC shall be expedited at an early date, the Bench ordered.