RAJENDRA KUMAR GARG Vs. SHAFIQ AHMAD AZAD

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under the Contempt of Courts Act. The petitioner in the case is Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg, Pleader, Collectorate Saharanpur. The opposite parties arrayed in the application are (1) Syed Shafiq Ahmad Azad, Managing. Editor, "Azad" Urdu Weeking, and (2) Rashid Ahmad Ghazi, Editor "Azad" Urdu Weekly, Saharanpur. The petitioner in the said application prayed for action under the Contempt of Courts Act against the opposite parties in respect of an article published in the "Azad" Urdu Weekly on 1-5-1955.

(2.) In order to appreciate the arguments of the parties, it would be necessary to narrate the chain of events which culminated in the publication of the aforesaid article. It would appear that in Saharanpur there is a factory called Lord Krishna 'Sugar Mills, Saharanpur. On the night between the 28th and 29th March, 1955, the workers of that mill went on strike. The strike, appears to be the result of the strained relations between the workers and the mill owners and the refusal on the part of the latter to accede to certain demands of the former. On 29-3-1955, there was a meeting in which the cultivators who were sugarcane suppliers to the said mill were present. This meeting was also attended by Sri B.P. Seth, the District Magistrate, Saharanpur, and Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg, the petitioner. In the course of that meeting certain events happened which led to a conflict between the Collector on the one hand and the petitioner and his associates on the other. The version of the incident which was the cause of trouble appears to be discrepant. According to one party, which would appear to be the party of the petitioner, the Collector addressed some words to the sugarcane suppliers which were taken exception to by the petitioner on the ground that they tended to create a division between the agriculturist and the Workers. This was resented by the Collector who ordered the arrest of the petitioner and his associates Sri Raj Kumar Vokra and Rao Mukhtar Ali Khan. The allegation of the other party appears to be that the petitioner Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg adopted a threatening attitude towards the Collector. It is alleged that he showed his shoe to the Collector and behaved in a most rude fashion. We are, however, not concerned with the truth behind the allegations of the rival parties. All that we are concerned with in this case is the fact that the events of the said meeting gave rise to two cases. The first case is said to be a case under Section 107/117, Criminal P. C. which was instituted against the petitioner and his associates. Another case is said to be a case under Sections 342 and 252, I. P. C. filed by the petitioner Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg against the District Magistrate and others. The former case is said to be pending in the Court of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Saharanpur, and the latter in the Court of the City Munsif, Saharanpur, on 1-5-1955, when the offending article is said to have appeared in the "AZAD" Weekly. A third case under Section 353, I. P. C. (State v. Rajendra Kumar Garg and others) is said to be under investigation on the said date. It would be relevant to mention that the happenings of 29-3-1955, seemed to have developed into a wider controversy between the respective merits of the various systems of Government. The matter appears to have been taken up by the local papers, some taking one view and the others taking a contrary view. On 4-4-1955, an editorial appeared in a paper called the "Bedar" which appears to be a paper of communist tendencies. In this article a reference was made to the strike of the workers on the night between the 28th and 29th of March, 1955, and the main demands of the workers were enumerated. It was then mentioned that the District Magistrate, had formed a committee to arbitrate in the matter and that, in spite of the promise made by the District Magistrate the decision of the matter was being delayed. Serious aspersions were made on the conduct of the district Magistrate. It was alleged that he was behaving in a most dictatorial manner. His honesty and integrity were also impugned. It was stated that he had acted in utter disregard of the claims of the workers, that he was enjoying himself in the magnificent cars of the mill owners, that he had colluded with them and that he had provided a poor specimen of the socialist pattern of Pandit Nehru's State. It was further stated that he should be ashamed of the mistakes he had committed, that he has actively supported the mill owners and that he was guilty of making a deliberate attempt to create misunderstanding and division between the agriculturists and the workers. It was further stated that in the meeting of 29-3-1955, he had called the workers "scoundrels" and "rascals', that the use of these words was resented by the workers, and that after hearing these words it became impossible for Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg and his associates to restrain themselves. When they objected to the use of these words by the District Magistrate, the latter ordered their arrest. The article further went on to say that the aforesaid unwarranted action of the District Magistrate had given rise to a wave of resentment and anger in the workers. It further called upon the U.P. Government to take note of the demands of the workers, and held out a grave warning that any failure on the part of the U.P. Government to consider their just demands might result in consequences that might be disastrous. At the bottom of the same editorial, it was printed in bold letters that the entire body of workers demanded, that the Collector should be transferred from the district, that the matter should be enquired into by an independent commission and that the legitimate demands of the workers be accepted. The above is a gist of the editorial appearing in the "Bedar" of 4-4-1955 which has been filed as Annexure (C) in this Case.

(3.) On 1-5-1955, the same paper viz., "Bedar" which appears to have so enthusiastically supported the cause of the workers and of Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg, the petitioner, came out with another news. This news purported to be a statement by Sri Pritam, Secretary of the Saharanpur Communist Party. The news items under this caption stated that with regard to the strike which had taken place in the Saharanpur Sugarcane Mills, strong rumours were current in the city to the effect that Sri Rajendra Kumar Garg, the petitioner, who claimed to be the leader of the Communist Party had betrayed the cause of the workers and had apologised to the Collector. ("Mazdooraun ko marwa diya hai aur khud collector se mafi mang li hai".) It was further stated in this news item that Sri Rajendra Garg was not a member of the Communist Party as he had already been expelled from the party three months previously owing to acts of indiscipline. This news item of the "Bedar" is annexure (A) in the present case.