Ashok Kumar Yadav vs The State of Madhya Pradesh

Tarun Kumar Kaushal, J.—Present petitions have been directed seeking relief of transfer of Criminal Case No. 16725/2012 from the Court of Abdullah Ahmed, J.M.F.C. Jabalpur to some other districts. On 10.1.2013 father of the accused and on 4.4.2013 accused himself preferred the petitions seeking aforesaid relief on the following grounds:--

(A) That, the matter is related to the alleged murder of practicing Advocate and therefore applicant feels that his son shall not get justice as he shall not get fair and impartial trial at Jabalpur.

(B) That, since the matter is related to the alleged murder of an Advocate the witnesses shall be under the pressurization of the politicians as also Advocates in Jabalpur Court.

(C) That, there might arose some questions of law of unusual difficulty and also question of law and order.

(D) That, since the applicant has been implicated on political pressurization and since there is every chance that the local persons shall try to influence the trial it is necessary that the trial may be committed to some other competent or superior Jurisdiction Criminal Court.

(E) That, the applicant does not want to name specific place or trial but he just want trial out of Jabalpur as it is right of an accused to have a fair and impartial trial.

(F) That, there are also chances of pressurization of particular witness since both the parties know each and other and on such pressurization either the witness shall appear before the Court or shall be under pressure to give such evidence which the interested person wants.

(G) That, since the charge sheet has just been filed and the case is yet to be committed this Hon''ble Court has full authority and power to exercise its discretion.

(H) That, the applicant making this application in the interest of justice as also fair and impartial trial, which is otherwise not possible at any Sessions Court at Jabalpur.

(I) That, the applicant also fears of his life because the deceased was practicing Advocate and on the date of incident and next day, there was curfew like situation. It is also submitted that on or about 19th February, 2013 when the accused persons were brought to the Court some of the Advocates were so excited, the police had to take back the accused persons to jail. The copies of the news paper cutting dated 17.10.2012, 18.10.2012 and 20.2.2012 are annexed and marked as Annexure A/1, Annexure A/2 and Annexure A/3 respectively.

PUD dated 19.11.2013 of Sessions Judge, Jabalpur is also relevant to mention in which it has been clearly stated that in Sessions Trial No. 64/2013 relating to murder of an Advocate of Jabalpur all under trial accused persons are not getting proper legal assistance to defend themselves. PUD of 9th Additional Sessions Judge, Jabalpur dated 16.11.2013 reads as below:--

Section 303 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and Article 22(1) of the Constitution provides, a person arrested put on his defence against the criminal charge which may result in penalty is entitled to the right to defend himself with the aid of counsel of his choice. As the accused persons have no advocate, a letter to provide legal aid to them was sent to the Office of Legal Aid Authority, Jabalpur. Vide letter dated 28.9.2013, it has been informed by the Office of Legal Aid Authority that the case is related to murder of an advocate of Jabalpur, therefore, none of the Advocates of panel is ready to pursue the trial from accused side.

As the accused persons have no advocate from Jabalpur to pursue their case, they are not cooperating in the proceedings of the Court. They said they are not able to engage any lawyer from Jabalpur and repeatedly have been stating that, till the disposal of their above mentioned petitions pending before the Hon''ble Court, they will not participate in the proceedings of the trial.

During the course of arguments, it has been stated by Shri Raman Patel, counsel for the complainant as well as by learned Panel Lawyer for the State that the trial is proceeding very well at Jabalpur and sufficient productions have been provided to the accused persons.

In criminal proceedings right of accused to fair trial and proper opportunity to defend himself cannot be ignored for convenience of complainant alone. Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done. Hence, in order to do fair justice to all stake holders in the present case, it seems desirable to hold the trial outside the District Jabalpur.

Considering the contents of PUD initiated by the trial Court which cannot be brushed aside of simple arguments of the rival parties, in the interest of justice to ensure the fair trial and speedy trial in the matter, S.T. No. 64/2013 of Sessions Court Jabalpur stands transferred from Jabalpur to Sagar, which is equally a big place having sufficient choice of defence and prosecution both for fair trial. M.Cr.C. Nos. 724/2013, 4396/2013 and PUD are disposed of as indicated above.