LADLI PRASAD ZUTSHI Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference by the Sessions Judge of Allahabad to the High Court for orders.

(2.) In October last Pt. Jawahir Lal Nehru was tried in the Court of the District Magistrate of Allahabad on a criminal charge and was convicted by him. An application was thereafter made by counsel on behalf of Pt. Moti Lal Nehru, the father of the convicted person, for a copy of the judgment delivered by the learned District Magistrate. By his order of 7 November 1930. the learned District Magistrate refused the application on the ground that the applicant was not a party to the case, or acting on behalf of a party to the case. An application was made in revision to the Sessions Court asking that a reference should be made to the High Court with regard to the legality of the said order. The learned Sessions Judge allowed the application and submitted the matter to the High Court for orders.

(3.) As a matter of principle I am of opinion that the proceedings in, and specially the judgments of His Majesty's Courts ought to be accessible to the public, and unless by any statutory provision or by the rulings of any Court I am bound to the contrary, I would hold that it is the essence of the administration of justice that judgments affecting the rights, and more particularly the liberties, of the people should be made as public as possible, in order that the public at large might at leisure consider those judgments, either in their own interests or in the interests in a criminal cause, of the condemned person; for it is only by such" publicity that the public can be satisfied that the law is being properly administered by those responsible for its administration, and that abuses in that administration, which might occur if the fullest publicity was not given to the proceedings in a Court, may be avoided.