C N ANNADURAI Vs. GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE OF MADRAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is the editor and publisher of "Dravida Nadu", a Tamil Weekly which is printed at and issued from Kancheepuram. He seeks to set aside the order of the Provincial Government, dated 25th May, 1949, directing him to deposit with the District Magistrate, Chingleput, on or before the 25th June, 1949, security to the amount of Rs. 3,000. The order was passed in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 7(3) of the Indian Press (Emergency Powers) Act, 1931, on the ground that the issues of the petitioner s journal dated 4th April, 1948

(2.) The writer laments that enmity should have been stirred up even against a person like Ramaswami Reddiar who delighted and felt proud in calling all Brahmins as well as Non-Brahmins as the sons of India.

(3.) After reading the article in its entirety, we are unable to follow the argument of the learned Advocate-General that there is in it an attack on the entire community of Brahmins, whether they belonged to the Congress legislature Party or not He tried to maintain his contention by arguing that the Brahmin members of the Congress Legislature were representatives of that community. It is impossible for us to accept this argument, because it is opposed to the facts. There are no separate constituencies for Brahmins and the Congress party does not set up any candidates as representatives of any community. All the, Congress members of the Legislature were elected on a common ticket as professing the ideals of the Congress. Simply because some of the members happened to belong to one community, it will be hardly accurate to say that they are there as representatives of their community. It is a matter of common knowledge that on some matters the elected members of the Brahmin community may be holding opinions on certain social matters opposed to a large section of the Brahmin community. We fail to see in the article any attack on the Brahmin community as such. Again and again there is reference to a group within the Congress party which was determined to oust Ramaswami Reddiar from the leadership, because he would not be of assistance to their selfish ends. It may be that this group is according to the writer composed of Brahmins. But it is difficult to hold that on this ground the article would tend directly or indirectly to promote enmity and hatred between the Brahmins and the Non-Brahmins in general.