A.B. Pal, J.

1. The petitioner-Subal Kumar Dey is the Editor and Publisher of the Bengali daily named "Syandam Patrika" printed, published and circulated from Agartala. One Yudhisthir Ray lodged a complaint on 8-5-1997 in Chebri Police Station under Khowai Sub-division against Mr. Dey that his newspaper published a news item on 25-2-1997 that some explosives had been recovered from the house of a person named Ganga Charan Debbarma who was the relative of the then Chief Minister, which was false and fabricated. According to the informant the said news item was published with a view to malign the democratically elected Chief Minister and to incite disharmony between the tribal and the Bengali communities. The written complaint was registered as Kalyanpur P.S. Case No. 46 of 1997 under Ss. 501, 505(l)(b)(c), 153, 153-A and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code. The investigation following the said FIR found prima facie evidence resulting to submission of a charge-sheet against Mr. Dey, the petitioner herein. On the prayer of the petitioner the case was transferred from the Court of Judicial Magistrate, Khowai to the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Agartala. On 30-6-2000 Mr. Dey submi