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Chander Sharma @ Kaku and Anr. v. State of Himachal Pradesh & Anr.

Transfer Petition (Criminal) · Neutral citation not assigned (Transfer Petition (Criminal) No. 67 of 2017)Decided 25 Apr 2017
Transfer Petition (Criminal) No. 67 of 2017
Justice J. Chelameswar · Justice S. Abdul Nazeer

Background

The petitioners sought transfer of a pending criminal trial from the Additional Sessions Court, Shimla, to a court outside Himachal Pradesh, claiming an immediate threat to their life and security, a decision by the entire State's lawyers' associations not to represent them or allow any outside counsel to do so, general public agitation against them, and a local media trial, all of which, they argued, made a free and fair trial in Shimla impossible.

Decision Breakdown

The State, opposing the transfer, showed that the court had appointed senior and legal-aid advocates for the accused at government expense, that charges had been framed and the accused had pleaded not guilty, and that the trial was proceeding on a day-to-day basis with 33 of 114 prosecution witnesses already examined; one accused's own privately engaged counsel had also filed an appearance. The petitioners' counsel did not dispute any of this. Finding no concrete justification for a transfer on these facts, the Supreme Court dismissed the petition.

Lesson Learnt

A request to transfer a criminal trial requires concrete proof that a fair trial is genuinely not possible at the current venue; general apprehensions of local hostility will not succeed where the actual conduct of the proceedings, legal representation secured and the trial moving forward, shows otherwise.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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