EMPEROR Vs. SADASHIV NARAYAN BHALERAO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave from a judgment of the High Court of Judicature at Bombay, dated 25- 1-1944, which affirmed an order of Mr. S. D. Adhav, Magistrate of the 1 Class, Jalgaon City, dated 22-6- 1943, acquitting the respondent who had been charged under R. 38 (5), Defence of India Rules, for having, on 26-1-1943, made, published and distributed copies of a leaflet which contained prejudicial reports within the meaning of R. 34 (7) read with R. 34 (6) (e) and (g), Defence of India Rules, and having thus contravened R. 38 (1) (c).

(2.) The Defence of India Rules, which were made by the Central Government under S. 2, Defence of India Act, 1939-(Act 35 [XXXV] of 1939)-so far as material - provide as follows : "34.(6)'prejudicial act' means any act which is intended or is likely- (e)to bring into hatred or contempt, or to excite disaffection towards, His Majesty or the Crown Representative or the Government established by law in British India or in any other part of His Majesty's dominions; (g)to cause fear or alarm to the public or to any section of the public;' 34.(7)'prejudicial report' means any report, statement or visible representation, whether true or false, which, or the publishing of which, is, or is an incitement to the commission of, a pre judicial act as defined in this rule; 38.(i)No person shall, with out lawful authority or excuse, (c)make, print, publish or distribute any document containing, or spread byany other means what so ever, any prejudicial report; (5)If any person contravenes any of the provision soft his rule, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for at erm which may extend to five years or with fine or with both."

(3.) The document which formed the subject-matter of the charge was admittedly made and published by the respondent at Jalgaon City on 26-1-1943, and he admittedly distributed printed copies thereof. It consisted of a leaflet addressed "To all the patriots," and it will be sufficient to quote some of the statements in the leaflet: "Unprecedented calamity has befallen our nation and the whole of our country has been undergoing sufferings. The Imperialists have by their barbarous policy turned the entire country into a cremation ground. When we were in great need of the national leaders for the purpose of the national defence, the bureaucracy has declared the National Congress unlawful and have detained all the leaders in jail. By reason of firings and arrests several villages in Khandesh have been made desolate and on account of this great calamity the people are losing their moral courage (day by day) and the whole of the country is putting on moribund appearance. The people in Khandesh have been harassed by the inequitable collective fines. As the Government is unable to solve the food problem, the cry of hunger is heard everywhere; and a situation has arisen everywhere in which serious food riots are expected. By depriving the mills of the coal 50 thousand families of the workers have been thrown into the ditch of hunger. But the Imperialists do not stop even at this. They are making ceaseless efforts to create a split between the people and the patriots. They have been trying to strengthen their hold by creating disputes and differences among the people by various ways such as creating a split between the owner and the worker on the question of dearness allowance and coal, between the merchants and consumers on the question of food grains and between the Muslims and the non-Muslims on the question of collective fines. The disunion among the people is their last resort. If we blindly carry on sabotage activities simply because the Imperialists are not transferring power to us the Japanese Imperialism may dominate over us. Therefore in order to face both these calamities we must achieve this great task of bringing about unity on the burning questions before the public such as national defence and self-determination and must take over the control of national defence."