AIR 1979 SUPREME COURT 468 ::(1979) MadLW(Cri) 70 ::1978 UJ (SC) 120 ::1979 UJ (SC) 120 ::(1979) Mad LJ(Cri) 541 ::1979 SCC(Cri) 934 ::1979 (4) SCC 167 ::(1979) 2 SCR 378 ::(1979) SCJ 153 ::(1979) 2 SCJ 153

Supreme Court Of India

Hon'ble Judge(s): V. R. Krishna Iyer, P. S. Kailasam, Anand Dev Koshal , JJJ

Criminal P.C. (2 of 1974) , S.406— Grounds to transfer cases - Test - Case of defamation against editor - Grounds of substantial prejudice, non-availability of competent legal service, and absence of congenial atmosphere for a fair and impartial trial - Transfer in the instant case refused. Mrs. Maneka Gandhi, editor of a monthly and daughter-in-law of the former Prime Ministry, was prosecuted in Bombay for defamation by the daughter of a leading advocate and member of Parliament. During the course of the prosecution, a petition was made for a transfer of the case from Bombay to Delhi and a string of grounds (such as substantial prejudice, non-availability of competent legal service and absence of congenial atmosphere for a fair and impartial trial) had been set out to validate the prayer. Held in the facts and circumstances of the case that the transfer could not be allowed on the grounds alleged.(Para 1) Assurance of a fair trial is the first imperative of the dispensation of justice and the central criterion for the court to consider when a motion for transfer is made is not the hypersensitivity or relative convenience of a party or easy availability of legal services or like mini-grievances. Something more sub-stantial, more compelling, more imperiling, from the point of view of public justice and its attenda....