Judgement

S. R. DAS, CJI.:- This is a petition filed under Art. 32 of the Constitution of India praying for a declaration that S. 295A of the Indian Penal Code is ultra vires and unconstitutional and for a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the petitioner s conviction under that section and for ancillary reliefs.

2. The material facts lie within a narrow compass. The petitioner is the editor, printer and publisher of a monthly magazine called Gaurakshak. The magazine is devoted to cow protection. In July or August, 1954, a Hindi Daily newspaper, named Amrit Patrika of Allahabad printed and published an article or a cartoon about a donkey on which an agitation was started by the muslims of Uttar Pradesh. The editor and printer and publisher of Amrit Patrika were prosecuted by the State, but they have been eventually acquitted by the High Court of Allahabad. In the meantime, in its issue for the month of kartik Samvat 2009 corresponding to November 1952, an article was published in the petitioner magazine Gaurakshak. On 12th December 1952 the State Government ordered the prosecution of the petitioner on the basis of the said article. Accordingly on 8th June 1953 a complai