CHANDMAL Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Chandmal Chopra, the appellant and one Setlal Singh moved this Court under Art.226 of the Constitution at about the end of March, 1985 for a Rule Nisi against the State of West Bengal, the respondent, calling upon the latter to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not be issued directing the respondent to declare that each copy of the Koran whether in original Arabic or in its translation in any other language be forfeited to the Government and that the said Rule should be made absolute.

(2.) The case in the petition was, inter alia, that the writ petitioners were citizens of India and engaged in social work and that the respondent was a public authority.

(3.) The Koran, also spelt as 'Quran' and stated to be religious book of the Muslims all over the world was written originally in the Arabic and available throughout India in the original Arabic or in its translations in Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, English and other languages.