JUDGMENT

1. The appellants in these appeals, 29 persons, were tried by a Special Tribunal, constituted by the Government of Bengal under the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act, on a charge of conspiracy u/s 121-A.I.P. C The charge as drawn up by the learned Commissioners constituting the Tribunal was of the following description: That the accused persons, between 1930 and December 1933, at Munshiganj Road, Watgunge Police Station, and other 70 places, (mentioned in a schedule to the charge), along with Jiten Naha (an approver, examined as a witness for the prosecution) and other persons, five hundred and thirty-seven of whom were named in the schedule to the charge were parties to a criminal conspiracy to wage war against the King or to deprive the King of the Sovereignty of British India, or of some part thereof, or to overawe, by means of criminal force or show of criminal force, the Government of India or the Local Governments.

2. It may be noticed that the mention of so many names in the charge sheet as co-conspirators, was perhaps in consonance with the rule adopted in a case decided by this Court, the propriety of which has not always been recognized: see Amrit Lal Hazra v. Empe