The Supreme Court on Thursday held that a case cannot be transferred from one State to another merely because the accused person is believed to be “influential”.
A bench, led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, said the court would use its power to “transfer a case from one State to another only if there is a reasonable apprehension on the part of a party to a case that justice will not be done”.
The bench was hearing a petition filed by a woman, accusing her naval-officer husband and five other officers of sexually abusing her in Kochi.
She had approached the Supreme Court seeking transfer of her case from Kerala to Delhi, alleging that the “the atmosphere in Kerala is not conducive for the case to progress and reach its judicious end” and that the accused are influential. She blamed the Kerala Police for a “lackadaisical approach” and asked the top court to order a CBI investigation. Rejecting her demand, the judgment, authored by Justice Banumathi, observed that “mere apprehension that the accused are influential may not be sufficient to transfer the case”.
The court, however, asked the Kerala State Legal Services Authority to appoint a senior lawyer to represent her in the Kerala High Court, where some petitions connected to the case are pending.
