JUDGMENT :

P.N. Prakash, J.

1. Since these criminal appeals emanate from the same judgment and FIR, they are considered and decided by this common judgment.

2. The facts distilled from the evidence on record are crystallised as under:

2.1 Sundar Rajan (P.W. 14), Inspector of Police, B3, Kattur Police Station was oh rounds with his subordinates in the afternoon of 25.06.1999 in the Gandhipuram area. In the junction of Gandhipuram IV Street and 100 ft. road, there is a mosque. Sundar Rajan (P.W. 14) and his team observed two persons outside the mosque displaying some printed materials to the worshipers coming out of the mosque. When the police party neared them, the duo tried to slip out. They were apprehended and when questioned, they disclosed their name as Shah Jahan (A.6) and Abu Tahir (A.7).

2.2. On verifying the hand outs in their possession, the police found them to be prima facie offending the State and therefore, in the presence of one Balasubramaniam (P.W. 1) and Ravindran (not examined), Sundar Rajan (P.W. 14) seized from Shah Jahan (A.6), the following items:

a. 10 copies of the June 1999 issue of Students Islamic Movement (for brevity "SIM") newsletter (Ex. P.25);

b. a letter a