MOHD. JAVED Vs. STATE OF C.G.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition is filed by the accused persons for transfer of Sessions Trial No. 311/2005 pending in the Court of First Addl. Sessions Judge (Fast Track Court), Kanker. The trial relates to murder of one Ravi Shrivastava, who was said to be an Ex-President of local Municipal Committee and resident of Kanker, Distt. North Bastar (C.G).

(2.) Brief facts are that on 22.4.2005 at about 20 hours, the complainant Matin Khan and deceased Ravi Shrivastava were traveling on a Motor Cycle in town Kanker. When they reached on a place known as Gad Pichwari turn, two unknown persons came from their back side on another Motor Cycle and fired two gun shots on Ravi Shrivastava. Ravi Shrivastava was taken to the Hospital where he succumbed to gun shot injuries. The police registered a case Under Section 302/34 IPC read with Sections 25 & 27 of the Arms Act. During the course of investigation, it was found that the matter relates to contract killing. It is stated that the Applicant Javed entered into a criminal conspiracy with the co-accused Raju Gosai and Wasim Khan for getting Ravi Shrivastava murdered. The motive for commission of the crime is said to be an incident in which Ravi Shrivastava and Matin Khan. had abused one Gulam Bhai on certain previous occasion. Gulam Bhai is the father of the Applicant Mohd. Javed. It is stated that on account of insult of his father, Applicant Mohd. Javed entered into criminal conspiracy with the other two Applicants and they were contracted for killing Ravi Shrivastava at Rs. 5 lakhs. Further case of the prosecution is that firstly, these two Applicants Raju Gosai and Wasim Khan contacted one Manoj Sahu and when Manoj Sahu refused to do this work, they approached the other co-accused persons namely Pamma @ Paramjeet of Raipur and Mangal Singh of Bhilai and the contract was settled at Rs. 2,50,000.00 between them. On this contract, Mangal Singh, Pamma Sardar, Raju Khanjar and Rajesh Arora came to Kanaker from Raipur and ultimately after finalizing their plan on 22.4.2005 accused Mangal Singh with the help of another person, who was driving the Motor Cycle murdered the deceased.

(3.) The allegations in the transfer petition are that the deceased namely Ravi Shrivastava was an influential person of Kanker city. Presently, the wife of the deceased namely Smt. Arti Shrivastava is the president of Municipal Committee, Kanker and the family of the deceased is in the political arena of the town, therefore, this case has generated a great excitement and tension in the small town like Kanker, which is having a population of about 30,000. Further allegations are that there has been a wide publicity in the media about this case. Many local newspaper clippings have been annexed with the petition and on this, a ground has been taken that the accused/Applicants, are undergoing a media trial and they would not get impartial and fair trial in the court at Kanker. A very specific allegation is made vide para 13 of the petition that whenever the accused persons are taken to the court, crowd assembles near the premises of the Court and they start shouting and raising slogans. According to the allegations, the crowd mostly is comprised of the followers of the deceased Ravi Shrivastava and his wife Arti Shrivastava and they raise slogans like "give death sentence to the murderers", "punish them". It is further alleged that a large police force is deployed in the court premises to tackle the situation like above. Some photographs, have also been filed along with the petition. It is also alleged that the lives of accused persons are in danger of being attacked by the mob and whenever the accused persons are brought to the court for hearing, the crowd uses filthy language against them and threatens them with dire consequences and the atmosphere of the Court becomes tense. It is stated that for security reasons, the accused persons were once transferred from Kanker Jail to central Jail, Jagdalpur. It is also alleged vide Para 17 that the lawyers at Kanker, who deal with the criminal matters, have refused to defend the accused persons and they have managed a lawyer from Raipur to defend their case. During the course of arguments one more fact was added by Senior counsel Shri P. Diwakar that in between 19.6.2006 and 20.6.2006, a close relation of accused Mohd. Javed has also been murdered at Kanker which, according to learned Counsel, is in connection with same event. They have prayed that on account of surcharged atmosphere and tension prevailing at Kanker and the same being not conducive of a fair and impartial trial, their case be transferred from Kanker to some other competent court, preferably Raipur, for its trial.