TMI Blog1950 (5) TMI 22X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... reinafter referred to as the impugned Act, issued the following order: Whereas the Chief Commissioner, Delhi, is satisfied that Organizer, an English weekly of Delhi, has been pub- lishing highly objectionable matter constituting a threat to public law and order and that action as is hereinafter mentioned is necessary for the purpose of preventing or combating activities prejudicial to the public safety or the maintenance of public order. Now there more in exercise of the powers conferred by section 7 (1)(c) of the East Punjab Public Safety Act, 1949, as extended to the Delhi Province, I, Shankar Prasad, Chief Commissioner, Delhi, do by this order require you Shri Brij Bhushan, Printer and Publisher and Shri K.R. Halkani, Editor of the aforesaid paper to submit for scrutiny, in duplicate, before publication, till further orders, all communal matter and news and views about Pakistan including photographs and cartoons other than those derived from official sources or supplied by the news agencies, viz., Press Trust of India, United Press of India and United Press of America to the Provincial Press Officer, or in his absence, to Superintend- ent of Press Branch at his office at ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ckstone's Commentaries, Vol. IV, pp. 151, 152. (2) Romesh Thappar v. The State of Madras, supra p. 594. FAZL ALI J.--The question raised in this case relates to the validity of 'section 7 (1) (c) of the East Punjab Public Safety Act, 1949 (as extended to the Province of Delhi), which runs as follows :- The Provincial Government or any authority authorised by it in this behalf if satisfied that such action is neces- sary for the purpose of preventing or combating any activity prejudicial to the public safety or the maintenance of public order, may, by order in writing addressed to a print- er, publisher or editor-- * * * * (c) require that any matter relating to a particular subject or class of subjects shall before publication be submitted for scrutiny; It should be noted that the provisions of sub-clause (c) arc not in general terms but are confined to a particular subject or class of subjects, and that having regard to the context in which these words are used, they must be connect- ed with public safety or the maintenance of public order. The petitioners, on whose behalf this provision is assailed, are respectively the printer (and publisher) and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion on the liberty of the press which is included in the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitu- tion, and the only question which we have therefore to decide is whether clause (2) of article 19 stands in the way of the petitioners. The East Punjab Public Safety Act, 1949, of which sec- tion 7 is a part, was passed by the Provincial Legislature in exercise of the power conferred upon it by section 100 of the Government of India Act, 1935, is read with Entry 1 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to that Act, which includes among other matters public order. This expression in the general sense may be construed to have reference to the maintenance of what is generally known as law and order in the Province, and this is confirmed by the words which follow it in Entry 1 of List II and which have been put within brackets, viz., but not including the use of naval, military or air forces or any other armed forces of the Union in aid of the civil power. It is clear that anything which affects public tranquillity within the State or the Province will also affect public order and the State Legislature is therefore competent to frame l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... safety' (or insecurity of the State), will usually be connected with serious internal disorders and such disturbances of public tranquillity as jeopardize the security of the State. In order to understand the scope of the Act, it will be necessary to note that in the Act maintenance of public order always occurs in juxtaposition with public safety , and the Act itself is called The East Punjab Public Safety Act. The prominence thus given to 'public safety' strongly suggests that the Act was intended to deal with serious cases of public disorder which affect public safety or the security of the State, or cases in which, owing to some kind of emergency or a grave situation having arisen, even public disorders of comparatively small dimensions may have far- reaching effects on the security of the State. It is to be noted that the Act purports to provide special measures to ensure public safety and maintenance of public order. The words special measures are rather important, because they show that the Act was not intended for ordinary cases or ordinary situations. The ordinary cases are provided for by the Penal Code and other existing laws, and with these the A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ty and public order may be read as equivalent to security of the State and public tran- quillity. I will now advert once more to clause (2) of article 19 and state what I consider to be the reason for inserting in it the words matter which undermines the security of, or tends to overthrow, the State. It is well recognized in all systems of law that the right to freedom of speech and expression or freedom of the press means that any person may write or say what he pleases so long as he does not infringe the law relating to libel or slander or to blasphemous, obscene or seditious words or writings: (see Halsbury's Laws of England, 2nd Edition, Vol. II, page 391). This is prac- tically what has been said in clause (2) of article 19, with this difference only that instead of using the words law relating to sedition, the framers of the Constitution have used the words mentioned above. It is interesting to note that sedition was mentioned in the original draft of the Constitution, but subsequently that word was dropped and the words which I have quoted were inserted. I think it is not difficult to discover the reason for this change and I shall briefly state in my own w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ification for restricting the contents of the section by the marginal note. In England there is no statutory definition of sedition; its meaning and content have been laid down in many decisions, some of which are referred to by the Chief Justice, but these decisions are not relevant when you have a statutory definition of that which is termed sedition as we have in the present case. Their Lordships are unable to find anything in the language of either section 124A or the Rule which could suggest that 'the acts or words complained of must either incite to disorder or must be such as to satisfy reasonable men that this is their intention or tendency. The framers of the Constitution must have therefore found themselves face to face with the dilemma as to whether the word sedition should be used in article 19 (2) and if it was to be used in what sense it was to be used. On the one hand, they must have had before their mind the very widely accepted view supported by numerous authorities that sedition was essentially an offence against public tranquil- lity and was connected in some way or other with public disorder; and, on the other hand, there was the pronounce- ment of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... passage brings out two matters with remarkable clarity. It shows firstly that sedition is essentially an offence against public tranquillity and secondly that broadly speaking there are two classes of offences against public tranquillity: (a) those accompanied by violence including disorders which affect tranquillity of a considerable number of persons or an extensive local area, and (b) those not accompanied by violence but tending to cause it, such as seditious utter- ances, seditious conspiracies, etc. Both these classes of offences are such as will undermine the security of the State or tend to overthrow it if left unchecked, and, as I have tried to point out, there is a good deal of authorita- tive opinion in favour of the view that the gravity ascribed to sedition is due to the fact that it tends to seriously affect the tranquillity and security of the State. In principle, then, it would not have been logical to refer to sedition in clause (2) of article 19 and omit matters which are no less grave and which have equal potentiality for undermining the security of the State. It appears that the framers of the Constitution preferred to adopt the logical course and have used the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... petitioners are seeking here. As has been stated already, the order which is impugned in this case recites that the weekly Organizer has been publishing highly objectionable matter constituting a threat to public law and order and that the action which it is proposed to take against the petitioners is necessary for the purpose of preventing or combating activities prejudi- cial to public safety or the maintenance of public order. These facts are supported by an affidavit sworn by the Home Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, who also states among other things that the order in question was passed by the Chief Commissioner in consultation with the Central Press Advisory Committee, which is an independent body elected by the All-India Newspaper Editors' Conference and is composed of representatives of some of the leading papers such as The Hindustan Times, Statesman, etc. In my opinion, there can be no doubt that the Chief Commissioner has purported to act in this case within the sphere within which he is permitted to act under the law, and it is beyond the power of this Court to grant the reliefs claimed by the petitioners. In these circumstances, I would dismiss the petit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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