Law: Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)

Section: S. 526 (3)

Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898), S. 526 (3)-"Party interested"-Person lodging First Information Report and moving machinery of Police-and Criminal Courts-Entitled to make transfer application in, certain circumstances' Apprehension of personal safety and convenience of party-Sufficient grounds for transfer. JUDGMENT   This is a transfer application in a case pending before the Sub-Judge and Ist Class Magistrate, Sanghar. The grounds for transfer are that the applicants apprehended danger to their life in view of their enmity with `Hurs', Sanghar being a Hur area and the applicants who live at Mirpurkhas are afraid to travel to Sanghar. The other ground is that Mst. Sehat subject of the offence under section 366, Cr. P. C. is a T. B. patient and cannot travel to Sanghar without danger to her life.   2. The learned counsel for the opponents urged that the applicant Muhammad Khan who had lodged the F. I. R. in the case is not an `interested party' to which right to make a transfer application is given by sub-clause 3 of section 526, Cr. P. C. He relied upon Jamuna Kanth Jhan v. Rudra Kumar Jhan and others (A I R 1920 Pat. 836). The point brought out in the ruling is not clear; besides, the ruling was given before the Criminal Procedure Code was amended in 1923. The learned advocate then relied on Sri Krishna v. Baij Nath and others (A I R 1953 All. 698), which clearly supports his case and reads:   "A person who makes a report, or is injured on account of the commission of the crime or is related to the person injured or killed, therefore, does not thereby become `party interested' within the meaning of section 526 (3) and has no right to apply for transfer."   This may perhaps be a good law so far as the Indian Courts are concerned but so far as Pakistan Courts are concerned the law as applied in Pakistan has always been different. In Sardar Shah v. Gurdit Singh and others (A I R 1934 Lah. 612) it is stated:   "Section 526 (3) is sufficiently wide and comprehensive and a person who has lodged the complaint and moved the machinery of the Police and the Criminal Courts continues to be a party…