The workmen employed in the mills in Koilpatti appear to be split into warring factions that have scant regard to law or the public peace. The Blackshirts also seem to have been adding in their own way to the difficulties of local officials. On the 31st December, 1950, the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Sankarankoil, wrote to the Assistant Collector, Tuticorin (he is the Executive Sub-Divisional Magistrate of the area) giving a resume of the situation from 1948. He remarked:

“Now, both in the labour front and in the political front trouble is brewing . . . . . . The situation is full of explosive possibilities and breach of the peace is inherent in it."

After this appraisal of the situation he ended his letter in the following manner:

“Under the circumstances I consider it necessary to regulate the conduct of meetings and processions by enforcement of section 30 of the Police Act. I therefore propose to apply section 30 of the Police Act within the limits of Koilpatti town and Koilpatti Panchayat Board, for one] year from 10th January, 1951 and request your concurrence.”

Sometime in February-the date does not appear in the document before me -the Assistant Collector, Tuticorin, replied to the Assistant Superintendent as follows:

“Your suggestion to enforce section 30 of the Police Act (V of 1861) for one year within the limits of Koilpatti town is accepted.”

On 5th March, 1951, the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Sankarankoil, issued an order in which he stated that rival groups exist among the labourers in Koilpatti, that subsequent to 1949 various instances involving a breach of the peace had occurred, that serious disputes still exist and that in the judgment of the Executive First Class Magistrate, Tuticorin, meetings, assemblies, processions and the like within the limits of Koilpatti town and Panchayat Board and in villages within a radius of three miles from Koilpatti Panchayat Board area are likely to cause serious breaches of the peace if not controlled by the police. He then recorded his view:

“I am satisfied that it is intended by the office-bearers, members, adherents and sympathisers of the above said groups and members, of the public in general, in Koilpatti town and Panchayat Board, ‘to convene or collect assemblies and organise and conduct processions and the like in public places, streets, roads and thoroughfares within the limits of Koilpatti town and Panchayat Board’.”

After that he passed this order:

“The other office-bearers, members, adherents and sympathisers of the groups and organisations named as well as those of other groups and associations and the members of the public in general who intend to convene and collect assemblies, organise and conduct processions and the like, to apply for a licence to the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Sankarankoil, for such meetings, assemblies and processions and the like within the abovesaid limits, under section 30 of the Police Act (V of 1861) for a period of one year with effect from 15th March, 1951. Any disobedience of orders will render persons liable for punishment under section 188, Indian Penal Code and other provisions of the law.”

This order was addressed to twenty-one named individuals who were said to belong to the I.N.T.U.C. group employed in the Loyal Mills; to ten individuals said to belong to S.R.V. group employed in the same Mills; to nine individuals said to belong to other labour groups; to nine individuals who were said to belong to the Blackshirts party; and to eleven individuals said to belong to the Socialist party. In other words, it was a special order so far as the individuals specified in the order are concerned and a general order as regards the rest of the public.

At about 7-30 p.m. on 19th March, 1951, two persons named Sivaswami and Ponniah, who are said to be members of the Socialist Party, convened a meeting in Gandhi Maidan, Koilpatti, without applying for and obtaining a licence from the Assistant Superinte