:1: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT WRIT WRIT PETITION NO.1967 OF 2008 PETITION NO.1967 OF 2008 PETITION NO.1967 OF 2008 Sou. Isha Shailesh Gage ..Petitioner V/s The State of Maharashtra & Ors. ..Respondents Mr.Niranjan Mundargi for the Petitioner Mrs. Usha Kejriwal, APP for the State CORAM : S.B.MHASE & A.A. SAYED JJ. DATE : 17TH NOVEMBER, 2008 P.C. 1. Heard. 2. The petitioner is a complainant in C.R.No. I-373 of 2008 dated 12th September, 2008. The said C.R.has been registered under section 385, 386, 387, 34 r/w section 120-B of Indian Penal Code. The petitioner is an Advocate practicing at Thane and Kalyan. It appears that the respondent No.5 Priyadarshni Kakade, is a friend of the petitioner and that in the month of June, 2008 both of them had got acquainted with each other in relation to some agreement which was to be drafted in respect of some :2: property at Pune. The respondent No.5 is reported to have opened an advertising agency at Dadar. In August, 2008 respondent No.5 and the petitioner went to a Hotel at Dadar, Mumbai and while taking tea respondent No.5 introduced one person being the Manager of the advertising agency and at that time some photographs of the petitioner were taken by the respondent No.5 stating that the petitioner is appearing very beautiful and can work in advertisements. Out of friendship, the petitioner also requested the respondent No.5, who was from Pune, that the petitioner is interested in purchasing property in Pune and if any property is available for sale, she should inform the petitioner. It is alleged that on 6-9-2008 the petitioner had been to Pune and the respondent No.5 came with a car to meet her. In the said car there were three persons. The respondent No.5 told that the driver of the said car is her brother, while the 3rd person is a friend. They moved in the city looking for various places and at about 8.30 the car was taken to one colony. The respondent No.5 at that time told that as her bungalow is very near, they will go walking and the other persons were directed to go. At that time :3: respondent No.5 received one phone call and therefore, she left that place telling the petitioner that within 10 minutes she will come back and thus the petitioner was left alone. The reasons for leaving the petitioner there as told by the respondent No.5 was that her mother has angry and therefore, within 10 minutes she will return. While the petitioner was standing alone one person came near her on a motorcycle and thereafter two persons came there. The person on the motorcycle was the Manager of respondent No.5. The said 3 persons threatened the petitioner that they are having obscene photographs of the petitioner and demanded money, otherwise they would put her to disrepute. She tried to contact respondent No.5 but contact was not established, since her mobile was switched off. After the said persons left, the respondent No.5 came back and the petitioner informed the respondent No.5 what happened. On 8-9-2008 the petitioner received several calls from the unknown persons to the effect that they are possessed of obscene photographs of the petitioner and if moneys are not given they will give the photographs for publication. Ultimately there was a demand of Rs. 15 lacs on that count. On :4: 11-9-2008 there were again threatening calls. The petitioner reported it to respondent No.5. At that time the respondent No. 5 was at Delhi and she expressed her inability to come to the rescue of the petitioner. The respondent No. 5 requested the petitioner to deposit Rs.3000/- in Axis Bank in the account of the mother of respondent No.5 as respondent No.5 did not have money to come back from Delhi. The petitioner accordingly deposited the amount in the bank. The petitioner states that in order to avoid dis-reputation she collected Rs. 6 lacs and reported the incident to her husband. On 12-9-2008 again there was a threatening call and then petitioner was impressed that it is the respondent No.5 and her colleagues who are threatening her. On this line the complaint was filed with the police station Naupada, Thane. It appears that the complaint has been recorded by Sr.Inspector of Police, Extortion Unit, Thane. Investigation is going on in C.R.No.I-373/2008 dated 12-9-2008. 3. Now the petitioner has approached this Court with a request that C.R.No. I-373/2008 dated 12-9-2008 be transferred outside jurisdiction of :5: Thane District. The request for transfer is made on the ground that the petitioner is an Advocate practicing in Thane and Kalyan Courts, and apprehends that the reputation of the petitioner would be put to the loss as the petitioner is known to every Advocate practicing in those Courts and thus to avoid loss of reputation the petitioner is seeking transfer. Except this, there is no other ground. 4. It is the petitioner who has lodged first information report and in the first information report she has stated that the respondents have threatened her that they are possessing obscene photographs of the petitioner and thereby the petitioner was asked to pay an amount of Rs. 15 lacs and therefore, cognizance had been taken by the Anti-Extortion Cell and crime has been registered. Since she is a complainant and she has reported that she has not given any obscene photographs, there is an attempt of extortion of money on that ground. It is rather difficult to understand how her reputation will be put to the loss. On the contrary, she has denied posing of for obscene photographs and asked for prosecution of the accused persons and according :6: to her, probably they have manipulated photographs. Therefore, it is not a case that the petitioner has herself given obscene photographs. It is the case of the petitioner that the photographs which were taken in the Hotel Pritam by the respondent No.5 appears to have been manipulated for the purpose of extorting money. Thereby the petitioner’s stand is that she has not done anything so as to be a party to the obscene photographs. 5. The matter is under investigation. While investigation is going on the accused can be produced for custody remands and/or for the bail application. The only grievance is that the advocates from the Kalyan and Thane may appear in the said matter. We cannot foreclose those advocates appearing in the matter and because the advocates from the local bar appear and read the complaint or other investigation papers that does not lead to dis-reputation of the petitioner when the persons understand that she has not indulged in such activities. Therefore, the apprehension which is expressed by the petitioner being made ground for the transfer is an ill-founded apprehension. That ground cannot be a ground for the :7: transfer of the investigation or transfer of the case from one Court to other Court. Therefore, on the basis of the apprehension as expressed by the petitioner we do not find that the case has been made out under section 307 to transfer the case from Thane or Kalyan Courts to Pune. We find that the grievance of the petitioner can be redressed by giving following directions to the investigating agency and the Court, instead of transferring the case to Pune and therefore, even though we are not inclined to grant relief as claimed, we mould it as follow:- 6 We direct the Magistrate or the Judge before whom either bail is preferred by the respondents and/ or remand application is preferred by the investigating agency that the proceedings shall be conducted in camera. Subsequently, if charge-sheet is filed, the Court hearing the case shall record the proceedings in camera and the proceedings shall not be made available to the public at large. We further direct the news papers who may desire to report the Court proceedings at any stage of the said case, shall not report the name of the petitioner in news and instead they can use the fictitious name while :8: making report of the Court proceedings. 7. With these directions the petition is disposed of. Earlier interim order stands vacated in view of the above directions. ( A.A. SAYED, J.) A.A. SAYED, J.) A.A. SAYED, J.) (S.B. (S.B. (S.B. MHASE, J.) MHASE, J.) MHASE, J.)