Judgment :

P. Sathasivam, J.

1. These appeals, under Section 19 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”), are filed against the common judgment and order dated 02.03.2007 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Calcutta in Suo Moto Contempt Motion being Crl.C.P.No.1 of 2007 with C.R.R. No. 187 of 2007 whereby the High Court found all the appellants guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced them to undergo simple imprisonment for a term of six months with a fine of Rs.2,000/- each and, in default of payment of fine within a period of one month, to further undergo simple imprisonment for one month.

2. Brief facts:

(a) A Committee was constituted by some local persons, who were active in public life, along with lawyers at Jalpaiguri named “Circuit Bench `O' Sarbik Unnayan Dabi Adyay Samannya Committee, Jalpaiguri” (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”). The Committee had passed a resolution for the formation of a High Court Circuit Bench at Jalpaiguri and in order to achieve the said purpose to stage Satyagrah in front of the District Court at Jalpaiguri. The Members of the Committee put their resolution into action on 15