SHRIDHAR SHANTARAM TILVE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) APPLICANT no.1 is a poet and also doing research work for Ph.D. at the University of Bombay. Applicant no.2 is also a poet and working with Lokmat Newspapers Ltd. Applicant no.1 claims to be an Editor of 'Abhidha' which is a small literary magazine published not very regularly. It is purported for promoting new talents and literary activities. Applicant no.2 is the publisher and co-Editor of the aforesaid magazine 'Abhidha'.

(2.) THE August 1996 issue of the aforesaid 'Abhidha' magazine concentrated on the issue of contemporary generations of the poets and writers facing the problem of post-modernisation, post-industrialisation, multinationalisation, computerization, globalisation and trying to search their self-identity. In the said issue, applicant no.1 had written and both the applicants have published a poem consisting of 22 parts under title "BANDHKAM CHAALU AAHE (UTTARARDH)".

(3.) APPREHENDING arrest, the applicants have preferred the present application for anticipatory bail. The applicants have asserted that they have not written the offending poem to provoke any Hindu sentiment and the applicants in their own way explained the true purport of the poem in para 6 of this application. The applicants have, therefore, prayed that in the event of their arrest, they be released on bail. The applicants have contended that they have no criminal antecedents. That applicant no.1 is a recepient of 'Keshavsut and Balkavi Award of 1992' and presently studying for his Ph.D. degree at the University of Bombay. Applicant no.2 also claims to be gainfully employed and interested in advancement of literature.