C G JANARDHANAN Vs. T K G NAIR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two applications are filed by Shri C.G. Janardhanan under S.3, 4 & 5 of the Contempt of Courts Act - Central Act XXXII/52 - on which notice was issued to the respondents to show cause why they should not be convicted for contempt of court. Application No. 3/59 is against three respondents, the 1st respondent being the editor, the 2nd respondent the printer and publisher and the third respondent being the town correspondent of a Malayalam Daily newspaper called NAVAJEEVAN, printed and published at Trichur. Application No. 4/59 is against two respondents, the 1st respondent being the editor and the 2nd respondent being the printer and publisher of a Malayalam Daily called DESHABHIMANI, printed and published at Kozhikode. These two petitions were heard together and as the question involved in these petitions are the same, we propose to pass a common order.

(2.) The publication in the two papers are almost to the same effect. It refers to an incident that happened on the morning of 31-1-1959 in front of the Trichur Collectorate. It is stated in the petition that the petitioner is a member of the Working Committee of the Kerala Praja Socialist Party shortly known as P.S. P. Being dissatisfied with the measures adopted by the Government to tackle the food problem, the Party had decided to carry on Satyagraha in different parts of the State to awaken public conscience. In pursuance of this programme the petitioner led a Jatha on 31-1-59 to the Trichur Collectorate to offer Satyagraha. The petitioner was arrested at 12 noon along with some others and produced before the First Class Magistrate, Trichur at 7 p. m., that day when they were remanded to custody. The police had registered a case against the petitioner and 33 others and the F.I.R. in the case has been produced along with his petition.

(3.) It is alleged in the petition that the respondents in these petitions were active members of the Communist Party and supporters of the Communist Government and they did not relish the activities of the P.S.P., and were antagonistic to the party and to the petitioner, in particular, who happened to be a prominent member of the party. The respondents have therefore, in their issue of the above two newspapers dated 1-2-1959 published what purports to be an account of the Jatha that was taken out by the petitioner, its activities and the arrest of the members of the Jatha. Copies of the paper have been produced along with the petition. It is not necessary to extract the report here. The petitioner alleges that in the publication there was a sarcastic comment on acts said to have been committed by the petitioner and others for which acts they had been charged and the truth of which has finally to be decided by the court. The petitioner therefore alleges that the above publications are calculated to obstruct or interfere or likely to interfere with the due course of justice or the legal process of the court and that the respondents have thereby committed contempt of court.