E M SANKARAN NAMBOODRIPAD Vs. T NARAYANAN NAMBIAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Mr. E. M. S. Nemboodiripad (former Chief Minister of Kerala) has filed this appeal against his conviction and sentence of Rs. 1000/- fine or simple imprisonment for one month by the High Court of Kerala for contempt of Court. The judgment, February 9, 1968, was by majority - Mr. Justice Raman Nair (now Chief Justice) and Mr. Justice Krishnamoorthy Iyer formed the majority. Mr. Justice Mathew dissented. The case has been certified by them as fit for appeal to this Court under Article 134 (1) (c) of the Constitution.

(2.) The conviction is based on certain utterances of the appellant, when he was Chief Minister, at a Press Conference held by him at Trivandrum, on November 9, 1967. The report of the Press Conference was published the following day in some Indian newspapers. The proceedings were commenced in the High Court on the sworn information of an Advocate of the High Court, based mainly on the report in the Indian Express. The appellant showed cause against the notice sent to him and in an elaborate affidavit stated that the report 'was substantially correct, though it was incomplete in some respects.'

(3.) The offending parts of the Press Conference will be referred to in this judgment, but we may begin by reading it as a whole. This is what was reported.