KATRAGEDDA RAJAGOPALA RAO Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the accused who has been convicted by the Addl. Dist. Mag., Krishna, for an offence under Section 124-A, I. P. C. & sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one year.

(2.) The applt. was the editor, printer & publisher of a Telugu daily newspaper called "Prajasakthi" printed at the Prajasakthi Press, Vijayawada. Under Section 4 of Act XXV [25] of 1867, the accused made the declaration before the Dist. Mag. as the manager of the press known as Prajasakthi Press, Vijayawada. Exhibit P.-2 dated 29-3-1943 is the declaration. He continued to be the printer & publisher till he was arrested on 31-1-1948. He has since been in jail & even now is in jail. The article in question is said to have been published in the issue of the paper dated 9-4-1948 under the caption "Capitalist Congress Government started country-wide military raids on people forces". There is no doubt that what is contained in the article will fail within the scope of Section 124-A.

(3.) But the question is whether the accused who was in jail at the time of the publication o the article can still be convicted of the offence under Section 124A merely because he did not write to the Dist. Mag. that he ceased to be the publisher & printer of the paper after his arrest on 31-1-1948. It has been held in Ramaswami v. Lokamada, 9 Mad. 387 that though a declaration was prima facie proof of publication by the editor, presumption raised can be rebutted. It was held that it would be a safe answer to the charge if the accused showed that he entrusted in good faith the temporary management of his paper to a competent person in his absence & the libel was published without his knowledge. In Harisarvothama Rao v. Emperor, 32 Mad. 338 : (2 I. C. 193), it was held that a person making a statutory declaration under Act XXV [25] of 1867 that he is the printer & publisher of the newspaper is presumably liable as such printer & publisher but he may rebut such a presumption. At p. 344 the learned Judges say :