THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE V. GOPALA KRISHNA RAO TRANSFER CRIMINAL PETITION No.92 of 2025

ORDER:

The petitioners/respondent Nos.1 to 6 filed the present petition under Section 447 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short, ‘the BNSS, 2023.’), seeking to transfer the D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, on the file of learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, to the file of learned Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Rajampet, Kadapa District to be tried along with C.C.No.61 of 2019 and M.C.No.2 of 2019, for trial and disposal.

2. Heard Sri Y.Ramatirtha, learned counsel for the petitioners and Sri D.Kodanda Rami Reddy, learned counsel for the respondent. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the respondent herein instituted C.C.No.61 of 2019 and M.C.No.2 of 2019, and those cases are pending before the learned Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Rajampet, Kadapa District. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that if D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, on the file of the learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, is tried by some other Court and the Calendar Case and Maintenance Case are tried by another Court, there may be a chance of conflicting decisions, and to avoid the same, D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, on the file of the learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, may be transferred to the same Court where C.C.No.61 of 2019 and M.C.No.2 of 2019 are pending, i.e., to the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Rajampet, Kadapa District. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, on the file of the learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, has been filed in the year 2021 and, till now, no enquiry has been commenced.

4. The respondent filed a counter denying the allegations made by the petitioners in the affidavit and prays for dismissal of the present Transfer Criminal Petition.

5. Learned counsel for the respondent submits that the 1^st petitioner herein is currently residing at Dubai and he has not appeared before the concerned Court, and that the enquiry proceedings before trial Court are stalled. The D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, on the file of the learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, has been filed by the wife against the petitioners herein under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.

6. The cause of action and mode of proof in the D.V.C case are different from that of the Maintenance Case. Moreover, the Domestic Violence Case has been instituted five years ago. Therefore, at this stage, if the matter is transferred to some other Court, the case instituted in the year 2021 will be delayed further. Therefore, I do not find any grounds to transfer the case from Chittoor to Rajampet.

7. At this stage, learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the 1^st petitioner is residing at Dubai, the 2^nd and 3^rd petitioners are the aged parents of the 1^st petitioner, and petitioner Nos. 4 to 6 are the married sisters of the 1^st petitioner.

8. Considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioners, since the 1^st petitioner is currently staying at Dubai, the 2^nd and 3^rd petitioners are senior citizens who are the parents of the 1^st petitioner, and petitioner Nos. 4 to 6 are sisters of the 1^st petitioner, this Court is of the considered view to dispense with the personal appearance of the petitioners before the learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, in D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, as long as their counsel on record appears before the trial Court and represents them in the proceedings. It is an undisputed fact that the petitioners herein have engaged a counsel before the trial Court in D.V.C.No.9 of 2021 and they are prosecuting the same through the counsel on record.

9. For the aforesaid reasons, I do not find any grounds to consider the request of the petitioners to transfer D.V.C.No.9 of 2021, on the file of the learned III Additional Munsif Magistrate, Chittoor, to the file of the learned Judicial Magistrate of