Judgment

RAGHUBAR DAYAL, J.:- Sahib Singh Mehra, appellant in this appeal by special leave, published an article in his paper Kaliyug of Aligarh, dated September 22, 1960, under the heading Ulta Chor Kotwal Ko Dante which means that a thief reprimanded the kotwal, a police officer, though the right thing would be the other way. The article contained the following expressions, as translated:

"How the justice stands at a distance as a helpless spectator of the show as to the manner in which the illicit bribe money from plaintiffs and defendants enters into the pockets of Public Prosecutors and Assistant Public Prosecutors and the extent to which it reaches and to which use it is put."

2. The Public Prosecutor and the II Assistant Public Prosecutors at Aligarh requested the Superintendent of Police for obtaining the sanction of the Government for filing a complaint by the District Government Counsel in the Court of the Sessions Judge under S. 500, I. P. C. The Government was duly approached through proper channel and, ultimately, the Home Secretary, U. P. Government, wrote to the Inspector General, U. P. on March 1, 1961 :

"I am directed to convey the sanction of the State Government