(1.) A notice was issued to the non-applicants, Shri R. K. Karanjfa, Shri Sitaram B. Kolpe, and Sardar Balwant Singh, to show cause why they should not be convicted for contempt of Court under Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Contempt of courts Act, 1952. The notice was issued at the instance of the original petitioner, deo Ki Nandan Bhargava, who died during the pendency of these proceedings. The petition is now being prosecuted by Smt. padmavati Bhargava, his widow, by leave of this Court.
(2.) NON-APPLICANT No. 1 is the editor, publisher and printer of the English Weekly 'blitz' published from Bombay, non-applicant No. 2 is a special correspondent of the daily newspaper 'press Journal' also published from Bombay and non-applicant No. 3 is a special correspondent of the daily newspaper 'hitavada' published from Nagpur.
(3.) THE complaint against the non-applicants is that In the issue of 'blitz' dated 253-1961, a news item appeared under the caption: 'who set communal fires ablaze in Jabalpur?' It is alleged that the entire article in question was full of facts intentionally distorted with ulterior motives about the incidents in Jabalpur in general and the petitioner's family in particular; and that the writers of the article had intentionally commented upon a criminal case, in order to prejudice the public mind, before it was taken up for trial by the Court concerned.