EMPEROR Vs. SHANKAR PAPAYYA PADAMSALI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an application in revision against the conviction of the accused under Rule 56(4) of the Defence of India Rule's, 1939, by the First Class Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Ahmednagar. A revision application against the conviction was dismissed by the Sessions Judge.

(2.) RULE 56 of the Defence of India RULEs provides, so far as material, that the Provincial Government may, for the purpose of securing the defence of British India, the public safety, the maintenance of public order or the efficient prosecution of the War, by general or special order, prohibit, restrict or impose conditions upon, the holding or taking part in public processions, meetings or assemblies. Sub-clause (4) is the penal provision. It is to be noticed that the order can restrict the holding or taking part in public processions, meetings or assemblies; it has nothing to do with private processions, meetings or assemblies.

(3.) NOW, it is not, I think, easy to say exactly what constitutes a public assembly. The expression "public assembly" seems to be used in contra-distinction to private assembly, and in my view an assembly, to be a public assembly, must be qualified both as to its purpose, and as to its composition. To my mind a public assembly is one the object of which is the furtherance of some public purpose, and the constitution of which involves the admission of members of the public, whether conditionally or unconditionally. If admission of the public be all that is required to constitute a public assembly, and the object of the assembly is irrelevant, it would follow that a crowd watching a cricket match on an open maidan or attending horse-races would be a public assembly, which in my view it is not. But to constitute a public assembly the public must, I think, have access to it, though it may be in limited numbers or on payment. If the assembly is confined to the members of a particular body or association, it would generally not be a public assembly. Of course, the question whether any particular assembly or meeting is a public assembly or meeting must be determined on the facts of each case. The place where the assembly meets may have some relevance, since it is obvious that a meeting which takes place in a public hall is more likely to be a public meeting than one which takes place in a private house.