In civil contempt proceedings, the court must act with care and circumspection and give the alleged contemner the benefit of any reasonable doubt.

Narayan, J.

1. This is a rule calling upon one Dasrath Jha, who is one of the defts. in Title Suit No. 20 of 1950 pending in the Court of the Subordinate Judge of Dumka to show cause why he should not be committed for contempt of Ct. The rule was issued on a report submitted to this Ct. by the learned Subordinate Judge, the report being that the deft, has been interfering with the Receivers possession over the tank which is the subject-matter of the aforesaid suit. The suit is for recovery of possession of the said tank and for compensation, the contention of this deft, being that he was allowed to take possession of the tank by the manager or the agent of the pltf. who had promised to execute a lease in his favour. By an order dated 3-7-1950 one Babu Ram Narain Prasad, Pleader, was appointed the Receiver, and on 14-7-1950 he submitted a report to the learned Subordinate Judge that it had been reported to him by Mukhi Muchi & Jugal Misra whom he had deputed for announcing his appointment, that the deft, had prevented them from making the announcement & had refused to give possession of the tank to them as the Receivers men. On that very date the deft, was directed to make over possession of the property to the Receiver, & the Receiver was directed to report by 20-7-1950 as to whether he had taken possession of the tank or not. On 25-7-1950, the Receiver reported to the learned Subordinate Judge that he had received a letter from the deft, on 14-7-1950 in which he had stated that the Receiver might continue in possession & that ho would never interfere with his possession. The Receiver, however, further reported that his men, Jugal Misra & Mukhi Muchi had again been prevented by one Tope Singh from making the announcement & that about thirty persons had been found angling in the tank. Five out of these thirty persons were alleged to have told Jugal Misra that they had been angling with the permission of the deft. Jugal Misra & Mukhi Muchi filed affidavit before the learned Subordinate Judge in which they stated that they had been prevented from making the announcement by Tope Singh who is an employee in the tea stall of Dasrath Jha, & three out of the five persons who are said to have admitted that they had been angling with the permission of the deft, also filed affidavits stating that they had caught fish with the permission of the deft. & that the defendant had taken his share out of the fishes caught. No counter-affidavit was filed by the deft., & the learned Subordinate Judge was of the opinion that though the deft, had undertaken not to interfere with the Receivers possession he had actually interfered with his possession inasmuch as he had permitted other persons to fish in the tank.

2. In this Cfc., however, one counter-affidavit was filed on 21-11-1950 by one Sarbanand Missir on behalf of the deft. in which the allegations made against the deft, were controverted. On 14-12-1950, the deft, himself filed another affidavit in which he made the same statements which had been made by Sarbanand Missir in the affidavit filed on 21-11-1950. The contention of the deft, is that he has no concern whatsoever with Tope Singh, & that while Mukhi Muchi is a tenant of the pltf. & a servant in the pltf.s estate, Jugal Missir is a sipahi in the pltf.s estate. About Amal Chandra Roy, one of the three persons who are said to have fished in the tank, the contention of the deft, is that he is his sworn enemy and had filed a number of false complaints against him before the Provincial Congress Committee. About the two other persons who have sworn the affidavits, namely, Bhola Rakshit, & Nabanidhar Gorain, the deft, says that the former wa3 himself an applicant for taking a lease of the pond in suit and that the latter is the pltf.s raiyat & a thikadir of the timber belonging to the pltf. Dasrath Jha has made one very important statement in his affidavit, & it is this that when the fishing took place the Receiver himself was present.