Judgment

MUDHOLKAR, J. : This is a petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution for issuing an appropriate writ to the respondents not to enforce the provisions of S. 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code or an appropriate writ forbidding respondent No. 4 from proceeding further with the prosecution of the petitioner for offences under Ss. 143 and 188 of the Indian Penal Code read with S. 117 thereof, for quashing the proceedings against the petitioner before respondent No. 4 and for the issue of a writ of habeas corpus to respondents 1 to 3 directing them to produce or to cause to be produced the petitioner to be dealt with according to law and to set him at liberty.

2. The facts which have led up to the petition are briefly as follows:

3. There are two unions of textile workers in Nagpur, one known as the Rashtriya Mill Majdoor Sangh and the other as Nagpur Mill Majdoor Sangh. The former is a branch of the Indian National Trade Union Congress. The Rashtriya Mill Majdoor Sangh entered into an agreement with the management of the Empress Mills regarding the closure of Empress Mill No. 1 for rebuilding it and regarding the employment of workers who were employed therein in a third shift. This agreement was opposed by the Nagpur Mill Majdoor Sangh. On January 25, 1956 a group of workers belonging to the Nagpur Mill Majdoor Sangh went in procession to Gujar s Wada, Mahal, Nagpur where the office of the Rashtriya Mill Majdoor Sangh is located. It is said that a scuffle took place there between some members of the procession and some workers belonging to Rashtriya Mill Majdoor Sangh. There upon an offence under S. 452 read with S. 147 of the Indian Penal Code was registered by the police on January 27, 1956. A large procession consisting of the workers of the Nagpur Mill Majdoor Sangh was taken out. This procession marched through the city of Nagpur shouting slogans which, according to the District Magistrate, were provocative. On the same night a meeting was held at the Kasturchand Park in which it was alleged that the workers belonging to the Nagpur Mills Majdoor Sangh were instigated by the speakers who addressed the meeting to offer satyagrah in front of the Empress Mill No. 1 and also to take out a procession to the office of the Rashtriya Mill Majdoor Sangh. On January 28, 1956 the workers belonging to the Nagpur Mill Majdoor Sangh assembled in large numbers in Mahal Chowk and on Mahal road blocking the traffic on the road. It is said that these persons were squatting on the road and as they refused to budge the District Magistrate passed an order at 4.00 a.m. on January 29, 1956 which came into force immediately and was to remain in force for a period of fifteen days prohibiting, among other things, the assembly of five or more persons in certain areas specified in the order.

4. The petitioner entertained the view that the order promulgated by the District Magistrate under S. 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was an encroachment on the fundamental rights of the citizens to freedom of speech and expression and to assemble peaceably and without arms, guaranteed under Art. 19(1) (a) and (b) of the Constitution and, therefore, he held a public meeting outside the area covered by the aforesaid order. It is alleged that at that meeting he criticised the District Magistrate and exhorted the workers to contravene his order and take out processions in the area covered by the order. Thereupon he was arrested by the Nagpur police for having committed the offences already referred to and produced before a magistrate. The magistrate remanded him to jail custody till February 15, 1956. The petitioner s application for bail was rejected on the ground that the accusation against him related to a non-bailable offence. Thereupon the petitioner moved the High Court at Nagpur for his release on bail but his application was rejected on February 22, 1956. The petitioner then presented a petition before the High Court under S. 491 of the Code of Crimin