( 1 ) A notice was issued to the non-applicants, Shri R. K. Karanjfa, Shri Sitaram B. Kolpe, and Sardar Balwant Singh, to show cause why they should not be convicted for contempt of Court under Sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Contempt of courts Act, 1952. The notice was issued at the instance of the original petitioner, deo Ki Nandan Bhargava, who died during the pendency of these proceedings. The petition is now being prosecuted by Smt. padmavati Bhargava, his widow, by leave of this Court.

( 2 ) NON-APPLICANT No. 1 is the editor, publisher and printer of the English Weekly 'blitz' published from Bombay, non-applicant No. 2 is a special correspondent of the daily newspaper 'press Journal' also published from Bombay and non-applicant No. 3 is a special correspondent of the daily newspaper 'hitavada' published from Nagpur.

( 3 ) THE complaint against the non-applicants is that In the issue of 'blitz' dated 253-1961, a news item appeared under the caption: 'who set communal fires ablaze in Jabalpur?' It is alleged that the entire article in question was full of facts intentionally distorted with ulterior motives about the incidents in Jabalpur in general and the petitioner's family in particular; and that the writers of the article had intentionally commented upon a criminal case, in order to prejudice the public mind, before it was taken up for trial by the Court concerned.

( 4 ) ON 3-2-1961, Kum. Usha Bhargava, aged about 20 years, committed suicide by burning herself to death at her house in Jawaharganj, Jabalpur, where she resided with her parents, though at the time of the incident her parents were away at allahabad. The death occurred at 8-30 p. m. in Victoria Hospital, Jabalpur, where she had been removed for treatment. At the hospital, it is alleged, she was conscious for a long time and had made a dying declaration stating therein the cause which led her to commit suicide. On the basis of that dying declare tion, an offence was registered at police station, Lordganl, Jabalpur, under Section 376 read with Section 511 of the Indian Penal Code; and two persons, viz. , Maksood and Latif, were arrested. On 4-2-1961, both the accused were produced in the court of Shri J. P. Mishra, Magistrate First Class, Jabalpur, for the purpose of taking remand under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal procedure. The learned magistrate remanded the accused to jail custody till 19-2-1961. On 20-2-1961, further remand was prayed for by the prosecution as the investigation had not been completed, which was granted till 6-3-1961. The period of remand was thereafter extended from time to time upto 184-1961.

( 5 ) ON 25-3-1961, an article appeared in the English weekly newspaper 'blitz' under the headiing 'who SET COMMUNAL FIRES ABLAZE IN JABALPUR?'. The writers of the article were non-applicants Nos. 2 and 3.

( 6 ) GIVING the reasons for writing the article, the writers said: "puzzled by the sudden erruption of violence in this city, which had seen three serious communal riots within less than five years, we had been despatched hurriedly by our newspapers for an 'on-the-spot' inquiry. " In the course of the article, while admitting that they did not claim to have unravelled the tragic episode, the writers nonetheless considered that the facts they had, gathered and the conclusions they had drawn were sufficient to present a fairly correct account of the happenings at jabalpur. The article then proceeded to state these facts and conclusions in the following manner: "on February 3 at 4 p. m. , a 21 years-old, Hindu girl, Usha Bhargava was admitted to the Victoria Hospital with serious burns. She died later in the night and in her dying declaration, recorded in the presence of two neigh bours and a doctor, mentioned that she had committed suicide by sprinkling kerosene on her clothes after 'an attempt to molest her. ' She was in too serious a condition to give a coherent account of the episode. She did not even name the culprits, but