1. This is an application under Section 24 of the Press (Objectionable Matter) Act, 1951 (LVI. of 1951) against the order of forfeiture passed by the State Government on 7-1-1954, forfeiting a book entitled Dampatya Rahasya published in Gu]arati by Messrs. Ellis and Martyn, a firm doing business in Bombay. It appears from the petition that a book bearing the title Mysteries of Marriage was published in 1943 in English. The book which has been forfeited is a translation of the English book and is said to have been brought out in March 1953. Both the English and Gujarati books give detailed descriptions of 40 coital postures, that is positions which may be adopted during the act of sexual intercourse.

At the end of each book there are coloured pictures showing the different postures. Each picture shows a naked man and a naked woman joined together for the purpose of sexual intercourse. By the side of each picture, there is a diagram which shows the position of the male organ inside the female organ. As the book was considered to be obscene, the State Government obtained the opinion of the Advocate General and on his certifying that it contained obscene matter, an order of forf