Law: Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)

Section: 526

(On appeal from the judgment and order of the High Court of West Pakistan, Lahore, dated the 15th July 1959, in Criminal Miscellaneous No. 956 of 1959).   Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898),  S. 526-Prevaricating statement of witness provoking Magistrate to remark "I should arrest him now" intending thereby to proceed against accused under S. 476, Cr. P. C.-Held, Magistrate could have taken action under S. 476, Cr. P. C. at conclusion of trial but was not justified in giving positive indication of his inclination during pendency of trial Case, in circumstance; held, eminently fit for transfer to another Court. Date of hearing : 3rd November 1959. JUDGMENT S. A. RAHMAN, J.-This is an appeal by special leave from an order passed by a Single Judge of the High Court of West Pakistan, by which he rejected the application of the appellant for transfer of certain cases, in which he figures as an accused along with other persons, from the Court of Mr. M. N. Rizvi, Special Magistrate, Lahore. The transfer petition was moved in the High Court in the following circumstances. There are some 17 cases pending in the Court of the learned Magistrate in which the appellant, who is a partner in Farid sons, or some of his employees, are arraigned as accused. The charges preferred against them fall under sections 420 and 467, Pakistan Penal Code. In the course of one of those cases, one, Ghulam Ahmad, was examined as a prosecution witness. He apparently runs a printing press at which, according to the prosecution, Faridsons got printed certain vouchers to support a false claim, in respect of repairs to factories allotted to them. The witness made a statement in favour of the defence, which was contradictory to the one he had made on the previous day in another connected case. Incensed by the conduct of the witness, the learned Magistrate at this stage made a remark "I should arrest him now". In the report, which he submitted to the High Court, he explained that he had in contemplation the provisions of section 476 of the Criminal Procedure Code and that he intended that the witness should be placed on security foe appearance before him in connection…