A court acts under section 344 of the Code of Criminal Procedure upon reasonable grounds. What constitute reasonable grounds depends on the facts of each case but to find out reasonableness of the grounds and the necessity to postpone a trial of a criminal case, the court ought to be guided by consideration of public interest and public policy and not the interest of a private party. Another fact to be remembered by the court in postponing a criminal case is whether the criminal case is instituted by a private individual or by the State. Further, the bonafide of the parties moving the application for stay and the conduct of the party moving the application for adjournment and his motive in doing so, is also relevant in so far it can be ascertained but in doing so, one court should not be regarded to be better than the other.

( Hussain Mohammad Ershad Vs. State, 1992, 21 CLC (HCD) [5380] )