IN RE: AN ADVOCATE OF ALLAHABAD Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) On 27th August 1934, this Court directed notices to issue to Mr. Kapil Deo Malaviya, Advocate, Allahabad, Mr. C.Y. Chintamani, Chief Editor, Leader Newspaper, Allahabad, and Mr. Krishna Ram, printer and publisher of the Leader Newspaper, Allahabad, to show cause why they should not be convicted and punished for the offence of contempt of the High Court committed by the publication of a passage in an article written by Mr. Kapil Deo Malaviya and published in the Leader on 10th June 1934. The particular passage appeared in an article headed as "A scandalous situation : The Bar Council Election," of which Mr. Malaviya is the author. The passage referred to in the notices is as follows:

(2.) It is not disputed that Mr. Kapil Deo Malaviya is the author of the article in which this passage appears nor is it denied that the article was published in the Leader newspaper on 10th June 1934. Learned Counsel for Mr. Malaviya, Mr. Chintamani and Mr. Krishna Ram moved the Court to discharge the notices to his clients. In support of this motion he contended that : (1) Inasmuch as the passage in respect of which notices were issued is not a reflection upon the conduct of a particular Judge or Bench in connexion with the trial of a particular case it does not amount to a contempt of Court as that offence has been defined by the Courts. (2) The article does not overstep the bounds of legitimate criticism of the conduct of a Judge or the Court and does not therefore amount to contempt of Court. (3) Even if the passage in respect of which notice has issued does technically amount to contempt of Court in respect that if contains a reflection upon a Judge or a number of Judges of the High Court, the reflection is so mild and the article itself so innocuous that the Court should not exercise its summary powers for the purpose of punishing so minor a delinquency.

(3.) We shall deal with the contentions of learned Counsel in order. In support of his contention that the Court has no jurisdiction to convict for contempt of Court where the aspersion which is alleged to amount to contempt, is not a reflection upon a particular Judge or a particular Bench in connexion with the conduct of a particular case, learned Counsel relied strongly upon two cases : one reported in In the matter of Special reference from the Bahama Islands (1893) AC 138, the other in Mcleod v. St. Aubin (1899) AC 549. We have considered the decisions in these two cases and we are clearly of opinion that they do not support the contention of learned counsel. In In the matter of Special reference from the Bahama Islands (1893) A C 138, it is obvious from a consideration of the report that the publication, which it was alleged amounted to a contempt, was in fact an attack upon the Chief Justice of the colony in his personal capacity. It appears that the Chief Justice had written an article in a newspaper upon a question which was engaging public attention. This article drew a reply from one Mr. Moseley. In the course of the argument before the Judicial Committee, according to the report, Lord Watson, who was one of the members of the Committee remarked: