Plea to transfer case to another court citing Magistrate's meeting with BJP leader rejected by Allahabad High Court

A plea to transfer a case to another court on the ground that the Magistrate presently hearing the case had met a Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader in his chamber, was rejected by the Allahabad High Court (Himanshu Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh)..Single judge Justice Karunesh Singh Pawar while rejecting the plea said that sole ground that the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) met a political leader cannot be a ground for transferring or withdrawing the case from a particular court.."Executive Officers such as Sub-Divisional Magistrate also 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 member of public come and meet him. This ground alone cannot be a ground for transferring or withdrawing the case from a particular court," the High Court said..The plea moved by one, Himanshu Singh sought quashing of the order dated September 22, 2021 passed by the court of District Magistrate, Bahraich which had rejected the prayer of Singh to transfer the proceedings to any other SDM Magistrate. .The counsel for petitioner submitted that transfer application under Section 411 of Code of Criminal Procedure (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 of member of Jila Panchayat from ward no. 46 of Visheshwarganj, District Bahraich and he meets the Sub-Divisional Magistrate in his chamber.Due to this reason, the petitioner has a suspicion that he may not get justice from SDM before whom the proceedings under Section 145 CrPC are pending, it was submitted.On the other hand, Additional Government Advocate opposed the prayer and submitted that apart from this "bald assertion" nothing has been pleaded by the petitioner, and no material filed either before the High Court or before the District Magistrate Bahraich who had passed the order under challenge. The Court also concurred with the argument.."Apart from this there is no other ground taken in this petition for transferring or withdrawal of the pending proceedings under Section 145 Cr.P.C. from the concerned court," the Court noted..The Court, therefore, rejected the contentions of the petitioner, stating that the same were misconceived. "It is not supported by any material to substantiate these pleadings," the Court added..The plea was rejected with a direction that the pending proceedings under Section 145 CrPC shall be expedited at an early date.."The impugned order does not suffer from any illegality as while passing the impugned 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," the order said..[Read Order]