[1] This is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution for the issue of a writ in the nature of habeas corpus directing the release of the petitioner who has been detained under Section 3 (1) (a) (ii) of the Preventive Detention Act, 1950, as amended from time to time.

[2] In order to appreciate the various points arising out of the impugned detention order a brief statement of the facts leading upto it are very necessary.

[3] The petitioner was the printer, publisher and editor of an Urdu daily known as 'Siyasat' in Kanpur. Sometime in May or June 1956 a literary and cultural institution of Bombay known as Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan republished a book entitled 'Religious Leaders'. This book had been written by two American authors and had been in circulation in a number of countries since 1941. There is no gainsaying that this book contains some highly objectionable and provocative passages about the character and dignity of the Prophet Mohammad which are likely to injure and hurt and in fact did injure and hurt the feelings of the Muslims including the petitioner. The petitioner, therefore, with the avowed intention of getting the said book proscribed started a very spiri