( 1 ) MUNESHWARA Nand Tyagi is the editor, printer and publisher of "chingari", a Hindi weekly newspaper issued from Bijnor. At the relevant time Dr. Ram Lal was the District Medical Officer of Health at Bijnor, and had been serving in that district for a little over three years. In its issue of 7-3-1956, "chingari" published a news-item referring to Dr. Ram Lal by name and stating that he had been transferred from the district and that with his transfer all the defects of the Health department would disappear. The authorities took no notice of that news-item. Then, in the following issue, that of 14-3-1956, there appeared an article under the caption "samayak charcha; transfer and staghan". This did not refer to any public servant by name but purported to be about "a Health Officer of a district". This article was considered highly defamatory to Dr. Ram Lal, hence the District magistrate wrote to the State Government recommending that Muneshwara Nands prosecution for an offence under Section 500. P. C. be sanctioned under Section 198b "cr. P. C. (which was inserted in the Code by Central Act No. XXVI of 1955 ). The required sanction was duly accorded, and consequen