Crl. Misc. No.M-29634 of 2010 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Crl. Misc. No.M-29634 of 2010 Date of Decision: 07.03.2011 Amal Raj @ Arul Raj & others ....Petitioners Versus Union Territory, Chandigarh through Central Bureau of Investigation, Sector 30-A, Chandigarh ...Respondent CORAM : Hon'ble Ms. Justice Nirmaljit Kaur Present:- Mr. R.S. Bains, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Ajay Kaushik, Advocate for the respondent. ***** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? ** NIRMALJIT KAUR, J. (ORAL) This is a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C for grant of exemption from personal appearance before the trial Court at Chandigarh during the trial proceedings in case FIR No.RC-3(E)/2005/EOW-1/DLI dated 15.03.2005 under Section 120-B read with Section 420 IPC, Sections 20, 20-A, 21 and 25 of Indian Telegraphs Act, 1885 and Section 6 read with Section 3 of the Indian Wireless Telegraphs Act, 1933 on the ground of extreme difficulty as the petitioners are from Bangalore and they have to incur huge expenses for personal appearance on each and every date of hearing. Reply on behalf of respondent-CBI has been filed in the Court today. The same is taken on record. A copy, thereof, has been supplied to Crl. Misc. No.M-29634 of 2010 2 learned counsel for the petitioners. Heard. The only short prayer made by learned counsel for the petitioners is that the personal appearance of the petitioners before the trial Court be exempted. The petitioners are admittedly residing at Bangalore, whereas, the case is pending before the Special Court, C.B.I., Chandigarh. The FIR was registered way back on 15.03.2005. The investigation went on for three years. Thereafter, the challan was filed as late as in the year 2007. Subsequently, the charges were framed after another three years i.e on 16.10.2010. The trial is not likely to conclude at an early date. Moreover, it is not disputed that travel from Bangalore to Chandigarh costs a fortune. Rather, at times the trial gets delayed on account of the absence of an accused for one reason or the other. In view of the above and the reasons mentioned in the petition, as well as, in the interest of justice, the present petition is allowed to the extent that the personal appearance of the petitioners before the trial Court shall remain exempted except as and when necessary and required by it. The petitioners shall ensure their presence on the date they are required to be present. (NIRMALJIT KAUR) 07.03.2011 JUDGE gurpreet