RAKHAN OJHA ALIAS RAKHAL CHANDRA OJHA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) ON a complaint filed by the petitioner the twelve accused/opposite parties were summoned by the learned Sub -divisional Judicial Magistrate, Contain to stand trial under Section 395 read with Section 397 of the Penal Code. In due course the case was committed to the Court of Session and the learned Sessions Judge, Midnapore made over the case to the learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Contai for trial. Thereafter the petitioner filed an application before the learned Sessions Judge, Midnapore stating that he had engaged a senior Advocate of the Midnapore District Bar to conduct the case on his behalf but due to his old age he was unable to go to Contai to conduct the case and accordingly praying for transfer of the case from the Court of the Assistant Sessions Judge, Contai to any competent Court at Midnapore to enable the petitioner to avail of the services of the Advocate engaged by him. As the learned Sessions Judge rejected his application the petitioner has filed this application in revision.

(2.) AT the time of hearing of this revisional application we raised a threshold question regarding maintainability of the application filed by the petitioner in the Court below by pointing out to his learned Advocate that every trial in a Court of Session was statutorily required to be conducted by a Public Prosecutor and that necessarily meant that the lawyer engaged by the petitioner would have no right of audience notwithstanding the fact that the trial originated from his complaint. In answer thereto the learned Advocate for the petitioner drew our attention to a judgment delivered by a learned single Judge of this Court in the case of Sk. Lutfar Rahaman v. State reported in 1987 Cal Cri LR 52 and, relying upon the same, contended that the lawyer engaged by the petitioner could address the Court so long as he was acting under the directions of the Public Prosecutor.

(3.) ON behalf of the brother of the deceased, attention of this Court was drawn to the definition of 'Public Prosecutor' as given in Section 2(u) of the Code and to the order of the learned trial Judge recording grant of permission to the lawyer for the private person to address the Court under the direction of the Public Prosecutor; and submission was made that in such a case the lawyer so engaged became the 'Public Prosecutor'.