LHC fines petitioner for seeking case transfer

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has imposed a fine on a petitioner who sought the transfer of bail petitions of two attempted-murder suspects on the basis of the alleged bias of the district judge concerned.

Petitioner Abdul Razzaq, who is a complainant in the FIR registered in Arifwala in Pakpattan district against suspects Ali Hassan and Muhammad Nadeem Abbas, applied for their bail after arrest, which is pending with Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Azam Rana of Arifwala. Apprehensive of injustice from the sessions court, he filed the petition for transfer of bail petitions from that court to any other court of competent jurisdiction. The record shows that the district judge had earlier granted post-arrest bail to two other suspects in the same FIR. The counsel for the petitioner contended that once there was a reasonable apprehension in the mind of a party to litigation that was alone a good reason for transfer of case.