VIRENDRA BANDHU Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Section 96 of the Cr.P.C., 1973 (hereinafter referred to as "the Code"), challenging the validity of the notification No. F-17 (38) Home 'XIV'/70 dated July 26, 1'975 issued by the State Government of Rajasthan and published in the Rajasthan Rajpatra, Extraordinary dated July 26, 1975, forfeiting the booklet entitled "Kranti Kiyon Aur Raise" and every copy thereof, purporting to exercise the powers conferred upon it by Sub-section (1) of Section 95 of the Code.

(2.) The case of the petitioner in short is that he is a practising advocate at Jaipur since Feb., 1963 and was also General Secretary of the Civil Liberties Union, Rajasthan and that he wrote a booklet entitled 'Kranti Kiyon Aur Kaise' in the year 1968, which was ordered to be forfeited by the State Government by its order dated July 26, 1975. According to the petitioner, he was arrested on July 4, 1975 and was kept in detention under the provisions of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, and in his view the forfeiture of the aforesaid booklet was a mala fide attempt to justify the petitioner's detention. The petitioner has asserted that the booklet in question does not contain any seditious or objectionable matter nor there is anything in the aforesaid booklet which may tend to incite the feelings of enmity and hatred between different classes of citizens of India and that is why the same was not forfeited for such a long time, although it was written and published in the year 1968. The petitioner has challenged the validity of the order passed by the State Government on July 26, 1975 not only on the ground that it was incorrect and mala fide but also on the ground that the order of forfeiture was unlawful and untenable in law as it was passed in a mechanical manner without application of mind and without giving any reasons or grounds for the opinion alleged to have been held by the State Government, which led to the forfeiture of the booklet in question.

(3.) The respondent, State of Rajasthan, has not filed any reply and the learned Public Prosecutor, who appeared for the State, has submitted that the booklet "Kranti Kiyon Aur Kaise", written by the petitioner, contains seditious matters and is likely to promote or incite the feelings of enmity and hatred between different classes of citizens of India and as such the order dated July 26, 1975 forfeiting the aforesaid booklet under Sub-section (1) of Section 95 of the Code was passed bona fide and the said order is perfectly valid and in accordance with the provisions of law.