The Court held that the order of proscription was valid and could not be set aside as the booklet contained matter that promoted feelings of enmity or hatred between Hindus and Muslims, which was punishable under Section 153 A of the Penal Code.

SHARMA, J.

( 1 ) THIS is an appln by Praml Khem Raj, Advocate the editor of congress Ka khuni Itihas, under Section 99 B of the Cr. P. C. The circumstances giving rise to it are as follows:

( 2 ) PREMI Khemraj (who will hereinafter be referred to as the author in this judgment) edited a booklet named congress Ka Khuni Itihas in the year 1946 and it was published by Hindu Pustak Bhandar, Jaipur, in December, 1946. The then Govt of Jaipur by its order No. 8984/mb, dated 9-7-1948, published in the jaipur Gazette dated 1-8-1948, proscribed the said booklet as well as another booklet, Punjab Men Pakistani Gundashahi edited by Gulab Chand Kala, which was also published by Hindu Pustak Bhandar, Jaipur. The order runs as follows: "congress Ka Khuni Itihas punjab Men Pakistani Gundashahi jaipur, 9-7-1948. Whereas the Govt of Jaipur are satisfied that the circulation within the state of the marginally noted booklet is likely to be prejudicial to communal harmony and consequently to the maintenance of public peace and order In the State, and whereas the Govt of Jaipur for the aforesaid consideration deem it necessary to prohibit the purchase, transfer, sale, or otherwise possession of the said booklet in the state, it is hereby ordered that under Section 99 A, Cr. P. C. 1943, the purchase, transfer, sale or otherwise possession of the said booklet is banned with immediate effect in the Jaipur State territory, excluding Sambhar Shamlat area.

( 3 ) THE present application relates only to Congress Ka Khuni Itihas, and the author has prayed for the cancellation of the order of proscription relating to this booklet on the ground that there was no such matter in it as was likely to be prejudicial to the communal harmony and consequently to the maintenance of public peace and order in the State as apprehended by the Govt of Jaipur. It was alleged the proscription was made in pursuance of the general all India wise policy of the Congress Govt of suppressing all other political thoughts and thinking of the country except that of Congress and that too by the Congress men.

( 4 ) A notice was issued to the Chief Secretary to the Govt of Jaipur and the said govt having been replaced by the Govt of Rajasthan, the appln has been contested by the present Govt of Rajasthan.

( 5 ) IT has been argued on behalf of the author in the first instance that the order of proscription is bad inasmuch as none of the conditions for proscription given under Section 99 A are mentioned therein, and the grounds of the Govts opinion as required by Section 99 A (1) have also not been given. It has also been contended that the book merely records historical facts and it neither promotes nor was intended to promote feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of His Majestys subjects.

( 6 ) ON behalf of the State the learned Govt Advocate has argued that this Ct is not authorised under the present proceedings, to take into account the fact that the conditions given under Section 99 A are not specifically mentioned in the order of proscription or that the Govt have not stated the grounds of their opinion therein. He has argued that the only grounds, on which this Ct can set aside the order of proscription, are given under Section 99 D which runs as follows: "on receipt of the appln, a Special Bench shall, if it is not satisfied that the issue of the newspaper or the book, or other document, in respect of which the appln has been made, contained seditious or other matter of such a nature as is referred to in Sub-section (1) of section 99 A, set aside the order of forfeiture. "

( 7 ) IT has been argued that the Ct shall be justified in setting aside the order of proscription only when it was not satisfied that the book contained such matters as are referred to in Section 99 A. These are seditious matters or any matter which promotes or is intended to promote feelings of enmity or hatred between different classes of His Majestys subjects, or which is delib