TMI Blog1940 (8) TMI 38X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n, which it is not necessary to particularize. On 23rd January 1940 the applicant filed an objection, accompanied by an affidavit in which he made various imputations against the character and conduct of the opposite party. He also applied for stay of the inventory proceedings at Benares. Notice was issued, and the proceedings at Benares were meanwhile stayed. On 5th January 1940, the opposite party filed a counter-affidavit in which he traversed the allegations of the applicant and in which he in his turn assailed the latter's character. On 2nd March 1910 the District Judge of Allahabad took up a plea of jurisdiction which had been raised before him and decided that his Court had no jurisdiction to try the case. The application was accordingly returned to the opposite party for presentation to the proper Court, which was held to be the Court of the District Judge of Benares. On 4th March 1940, the opposite party presented his application in the aforementioned Court. Two days later, on 6th March 1940, the opposite party moved the District Judge of Allahabad under Section 476, Criminal P.C., praying that an inquiry be made into certain of the allegations in the applicant's a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he said defendant believes that the plaintiff's father also colluded with some of these money-lenders with a similar object.... 5. When the hearing of the suit had begun, the plaintiff sent a notice to the defendant's guardian complaining that the allegation in para. 9 of the written statement was defamatory. The notice went on to say: Unless within a week of the receipt of this notice you send an unqualified apology and withdraw the aforequoted statement by putting an application to that effect in the said Court and also by publishing the said withdrawal and apology in such newspapers as my client requires in order to clear the character and conduct of his late father and unless further within the same one week you pay to my client a sum of ₹ 10,000 only as damages, which sum is only a rough figure for the purposes of this notice and by which he is in no way bound if litigation becomes necessary in this regard, he will take action against you both in civil and criminal Courts as advised, in which event you will further be liable to pay such damages and costs incidental thereto as may be claimed. 6. It was held by this Court that the notice amounted to a dire ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ard the plea which might, if established, prove fatal to the suit; and in that way an indirect attempt was made to exclude the plea taken on behalf of the minor from the consideration of the Court. 9. In Baldeo Sahai v. Shiva Dutt (40) 27 AIR 1940 All 114 a suit had been instituted for possession of land and removal of certain constructions. The defendant filed a written statement in which he alleged that the suit had been brought at the instance of the brother of the plaintiff, who was described as awara. Thereafter, the plaintiff filed an application for striking out the word awara and asking for an apology and stating that on failure of apology proceedings would be taken. The Munsif substituted another word for awara. Subsequently the plaintiff's brother sent a notice demanding ₹ 1000 as damages for defamation. The applicant thereupon claimed that both the application to strike out the word awara and the notice demanding damages, constituted a contempt of Court in regard to the civil suit. It was held by this Court that the notice did not amount to contempt of Court, as there was nothing in the said notice asking that any action should be taken in the conduc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... site party had waited until the guardianship proceedings were over, he would have been justified in doing what he did; his grievance is that the opposite party did not wait for that indefinite date, but preferred his application and complaint while the proceedings were pending in the Court of the District Judge of Benares. And according to learned Counsel, it is this fact that constitutes the element of contempt. 12. As regards the application under Section 476, Criminal P.C., we are clearly of opinion that it did not amount to a contempt. If, as alleged by the opposite party, the allegations in the affidavit of 23rd January 1940 were false, it was perfectly open to him to move the Court of the District Judge as soon as the proceedings terminated in that Court. What he did in effect was to draw the attention of the Court to those allegations in the affidavit which he claimed to be false and thereafter the responsibility lay with the Court which, after inquiry or otherwise, might or might not decide to prefer a formal complaint. 13. There remains the matter of the complaint under Section 500, I.P.C. It is not our business in these proceedings to say whether the allegations in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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