The Supreme Court set aside a Telangana High Court order that had transferred a criminal case from Sangareddy to Hyderabad over allegations of bias. The Supreme Court made it clear that a judge cannot be presumed to be biased only because a relative of one party works as a police constable or court staff on January 6.
A bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice K Vinod Chandran allowed an appeal filed by a woman whose criminal complaint case had been transferred at the request of her husband. The High Court had passed the transfer order without hearing the wife, even though she was a respondent in the case.
The Supreme Court noted that the woman, who has two children, would face serious difficulty in pursuing the case, far away from her hometown. The transfer was sought on the claim that the wife’s relatives were influencing the police and court staff in Sangareddy, as one relative was a Head Constable and another worked in the District Court.
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Allegations of bias found inconsequential
Rejecting this argument, the Supreme Court said such facts alone cannot lead to an assumption of bias. “Primarily, it cannot be said that merely because the relative of the wife is a Head Constable and another is working in the District Court, there would be a bias against the husband, especially when the adjudication is carried out by the Judge,” the Court observed.
The bench also pointed out that one of the relatives cited for alleging bias had already been transferred out of the concerned court. The Court said it cannot lightly presume bias against a judge on such grounds.
“We cannot lightly find a bias on the Judge merely because the relative of a party is a Head Constable working in a Police Station coming within the jurisdiction of the Court and/or another relative is working in the District Court itself,” it added.
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The Supreme Court restored the case to the court of the Additional Judicial Magistrate First Class, Sangareddy. It directed that if the case had been closed by the Hyderabad court for any reason, it must be reopened and sent back.
On the husband’s safety concerns, the Court said he could seek exemption from personal appearance, appear through counsel or video conferencing, or apply for police protection. It clarified that its observations were limited to the transfer issue and would not affect the final decision of the case.
