JUDGMENT

Henderson, J. - This is a rule calling; upon the Chief Presidency Magistrate, Calcutta, to show cause why the conviction of the petitioner u/s 292, I.P.C., should not be set aside. The prosecution was instituted in connexion with certain photographs which were reproduced by the petitioner by some mechanical process and then issued for sale in the streets. The learned Magistrate was right when he said that the only question for his determination was whether these postcards are obscene. They are all postcards of women in the nude. Blocks were prepared from photographic reproductions published in booklets entitled 'Perfect Womanhood', 'Sun Bathers' and 'Eve in the Sunlight.' These books were purchased by the petitioner from well-known book, sellers of repute in Calcutta. The conviction cannot be upheld unless we are prepared to say that a picture of a woman in the nude is per se obscene. If the postcard reproductions are obscene, the originals are equally so and the book-sellers are as guilty as the petitioner. It appears from his judgment that the learned Magistrate was not prepared to go so far as to hold that the originals are obscene. He was also influenced by a suggestion