JUDGMENT

D. A. DESAI, J.:— The Union of India has moved this Court seeking permission to withdraw Criminal Miscellaneous Petitions Nos. 8009 and 8010/77 pending in this Court since 1977.

2. Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 8009 of 1977 was moved by the Solicitor General of India requesting the court to take action against the five persons whose names and addresses have been set out in the petition u/s. 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 on the ground that they were individually and severally guilty of wilful disobedience to the directions and order of this Court with regard to the preservation of the film Kissa Kursee Ka, negatives and the prints in proper condition until the disposal of Writ Petition No. 595/77 and thereby they have interfered with the due course of judicial proceedings and their conduct was intended and calculated to interfere with and obstruct the. administration of justice by causing the loss and disappearance of film Kissa Kursee Ka with a view to disabling and preventing this court from effectively dealing with the writ petition pending before it and judicially determining the issues arising therein.

3. Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No. 8010/77 was also moved by the Solicitor General of India inviting this Court to hold that prima facie five persons whose names and addresses have been set out in the petition appear to have committed offences under S. 120-B read with Ss. 199 and 193 of the Penal Code and it was expedient in the interest of justice to file a criminal complaint against them. Broadly, it was alleged that the averments made in the petition for taking action under the Contempt of Courts Act when properly viewed would show that the persons mentioned in the petition prima facie appear to have entered into a conspiracy to intentionally give false evidence at any stage of a judicial proceeding as also fabricated evidence for the aforesaid purpose and intentionally made false statement and ,declaration which may in law be receivable in evidence and thereby committed offences under Ss. 193 and 199 of the Penal Code.

4. It may be mentioned that Shri Amrit Nahata had filed a writ petition in this Court praying for a declaration that Ss. 3 and 6 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and Rules 23 and 25 of the Cinematograph (Censorship Rules), 1958 were unconstitutional, invalid and for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents in the writ petition to certify his film Kissa Kursee Ka for unrestricted public exhibition. During the pendency of the writ petition this court had made an order on July 18, 1975 that the petitioner will deliver within one week from the date of the order, negative and prints, if any, of the film to the Government and the Government will preserve negatives and prints, if any, in proper condition until the disposal of the writ petition. During the course of the further proceedings on October 29, 1975, this Court made another order directing that the film Kissa Kursee Ka be screened on November 17, 1975 at 6 p. m. to be seen by five learned Judges of this Court. This order led to practically Et game of hide and seek but ultimately the film was not made available for screening as directed by this Court.

5. In the meantime a substantive prosecution was launched against Shri Vidya Charan Shukla, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India and late Shri Sanjay Gandhi for various offences. The case came up for trial before the learned Sessions Judge who convicted both the accused for various offences and imposed several sentences on them. The matter was carried in appeal to the Delhi High Court. In the meantime on the enactment of Special Courts Act, 1979, a declaration u/s. 5(1) of the Special Courts Act was made with the result that the appeal stood transferred to this Court. The two appeals were heard by this court and the judgment is reported in V. C. Shukla v. State (Delhi Administration) (1980) 3 SCR 500 : (AIR 1980 SC 1382 ). This Court acquitted both