JUDGMENT - R.A. JAHAGIRDAR, J.:---This is a petition filed by a practising Advocate of this Court invoking the jurisdiction of this Court under section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act for taking action against respondent No. 1, hereinafter referred to as "the contemner". The contemner is the editor of a Marathi daily newspaper published from Bombay, called 'Loksatta'. It is said to have the largest circulation among the Marathi newspapers, respondent No. 2 is limited company which owns the newspaper of which the contemner is the editor. The State of Maharashtra has been joined as respondent No. 3 in the petition.

2. Apart from being the editor of the newspaper, the contemner also writes a column in the said newspaper under heading "Chaupher". In the issue of Loksatta dated 7th February, 1986, the contemner wrote and published an article with the heading: "Who will stop the downfall of the High Court?' In this article, there are statements which, prima facie amounted to contempt of Court. The petitioner filed the present petition bringing to the notice of this Court the article published on 7th of Feb., 1986 and prayed that on the basis of the petition filed by him, cognizance may

Click Here to Read the rest of this document