T A RAJENDRAN Vs. P V AYYAPPAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petition is by Sri T. A Rajendran, the Editor, 'Navab', Fort Cochin; and the purpose of the petition is to bring to the notice of this Court Ext. P1 report in the Mathrubhumi dated October 17, 1983, of a speech alleged to have been made by the 1st respondent, Sri P. V. Ayyappan, the Advocate General, at a reception accorded to him and Sri T. N. Jayachandran, the Vice Chancellor, the Calicut University, at Trichur on October 15, 1983, which, according to the petitioner, constituted "criminal contempt'' as defined in S.2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, (the Act). Respondents 2, 3 and 4 respectively are the Publisher, the Editor and the Trichur Correspondent of the Mathrubhumi.

(2.) The 1st respondent's statement: "The Courts have become super Government'', and his declaration: "I will oppose this tendency", are the offensive parts of the speech as reported in Ext. P1 according to the petitioner.

(3.) The 1st respondent who was present in Court replied to the query by us that the Press report did not represent the correct and true version of his speech. Assuming, without deciding, that the 1st respondent had spoken as reported in Ext. P1, we do not find sufficient ground for initiating action under the Act which essentially is in the nature of a criminal proceeding. S.2(c) of the Act lays down: