DEBAJYOTI BARMAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellant Debajyoti Barman is the editor, printer and publisher of a Bengali Weekly named Jugabani which enjoys a fairly wide circulation. He has been convicted under Section 500, Indian Penal Code, by a Presidency Magistrate, Calcutta, for having published in his journal on March 7, 1953, a libelous article against the complainant Dr. Nalinaksha Sanyal and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 300 in default to suffer simple imprisonment for three months.

(2.) The facts leading up to the present prosecution are these: Messrs. A. Mukherjee and Co., Ltd., are a body of publishers who publish books for selection as text books for the School Final Examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education. That Board is a statutory body constituted under West Bengal Act XXXVIII of 1950 and consists of an executive council and several committees, one of which is the syllabus committee. The constitution of the executive council is governed by Section 21 of the Act and its powers by Section 37. The constitution and functions of the syllabus committee are both regulated by Section 27. Section 27(3) of the Act provides that it shall be the duty of the syllabus committee to make recommendations to the executive council about the curriculum and syllabus of studies to be followed in recognised high schools and also to advise the executive council about the text books to be used by them. Under Section 37(1)(g), the executive council has the power to determine the syllabus of studies to be followed in high schools after considering the recommendations if any made by the syllabus committee under the provisions of Section 27(3) and within the time prescribed by regulations framed by the Board.

(3.) The controversy in the present case centres round the selection of English Rapid Reader for the School Pinal Examination of 1955. The complainant Dr. Nalinaksha Sanyal is a member of the executive council of the Board of Secondary Education. At a meeting of the executive council held on October 22, 1952, which was attended by the complainant, a unanimous resolution was passed on the recommendation of the syllabus committee, that English text books consisting of short stories should not be prescribed as Rapid Readers for the School Final Examination of 1955. On the basis of this resolution a Press-Note was published by the Board of Secondary Education in the Calcutta Gazette on November 6, 1952, to the following effect: Notification No. Syl./17, dated Calcutta, October 30, 1952: