A.D. TATED, J.:---The petitioner is the accused in Sessions Case No. 6 of 1987 pending on the file of the Additional Sessions Judge, Kolhapur (Shri B.D. Kadam), for the offence punishable under section 376 I.P.C. This is his second petition under section 407(1)(a) (c) Cri.P.C. for the transfer of the sessions case from Kolhapur to the Sessions Court at Greater Bombay or to any other Sessions Court in any district of Maharashtra at a reasonable distance from Kolhapur.

2. The facts giving rise to the present petition are that the petitioner-accused was arrested on 24th September, 1986 by Shahupuri Police Station, Kolhapur, in C.R. No. 274 of 1986 which was registered on the same day on the report of the parents of one Chitragandha Shrikant Deshpande, a minor girl (hereinafter referred to as 'the minor girl'), who is alleged to have been raped by the accused. On the same day medical examination of the minor girl alleged to have been raped and that of the accused was conducted. The news of the alleged rape by the accused on the minor girl was published in the newspaper "Dainik Sakal" on 25th September, 1986. Thereafter there was lot of agitation at Kolhapur. While the accused