Judgement

S. R. DAS, CJI. : The petitioner before us, who is a citizen of India, is by profession a journalist and has at all material times been and is still working as the editor of the Searchlight, one of the well-known English daily newspapers having a large circulation in Patna and other places in the State of Bihar. The first respondent has at all material times been and is the Chief Minister of the State of Bihar and the Chairman of the Committee of Privileges of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. The Committee of Privileges has been impleaded as the second respondent as if it is a legal entity entitled to sue or to be sued in its name. The third respondent is called and described as the Secretary to the Bihar Legislative Assembly as if it also is a legal entity but the incumbent of that office has not been named in the cause title. As no objection has been taken to the way the second and the third respondents have been impleaded as parties nothing further need be said about the propriety of such procedure.

2. This petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution raises several important questions of far reaching effect. It came to be filed in the following circumstances : In his speec