Lawyers Directory Listing
Chat with us free on WhatsApp — tell us your city and legal matter and our team connects you with the right lawyer. No form, no fee.
In the matter of the Jarida Al-Islah, Lahore.
Criminal Original No. 22 of 1949, decided on 22nd March, 1950,
,
S. 4 (1) (d) -Language same as that of S. 124-A Pakistan Penal Code -"Sedition" defined.
The language of clause (d) is precisely the same as is used in section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code known as "sedition".
"Sedition embraces all those practices, whether by word, deed or writing, which are calculated to disturb the tranquility of the State and lead ignorant persons to subvert the Government. The objects of sedition generally are to induce discontent and insurrec tion, to stir up opposition to the Government and to bring the administration of justice into contempt; and the very tendency of sedition is to incite the people to insurrection and rebellion: Sedition has been described as disloyalty in action, and the law considers as sedition all those practices which have for their object to excite discontent or disaffection, to create public disturbance, or to lead to civil war, to bring into hatred or contempt the soveregin or Government, the laws or the constitution of the realm and generally all endeavours to promote public disorder."
(1868) II Cox C. C. 54 (55).
A. I. R. 1942 F. C. 22 (26) referred to.
Sedition is a crime against society as a whole. In all civilized countries and orderly Governments, the integrity and the preservation of the State is a matter of vital concern and is so sacred that no attempt at its disruption or weakening, directly or indirectly will be countenanced.
,
S. 4 (1) (d)-Publication setting out as net result of administration of Government: Massacre of 15 laes Muslims, uprooting of 85 lacs persons, detention of 75 thousand Muslim women in hands of non-Muslims and loss of 21 Muslim States-Publication covered by section.
A publication, namely; "The Manifesto of Islam League" set out as the net result of 22 months' administration of the Government: The massacre of fifteen lass of Muslims, the uprooting of eighty-five lacs of persons, the detention of seventy thousand Muslim women in the hands of the non-Muslims and the loss of twenty-one Muslim States, for example, Junagarh, Bhopal, etc.
Held that the publication is covered by clause (d) of subsec tion (1) of section 4 of the Press (Emergency Powers) Act.
Any person reading the "manifesto" with an open mind would inevitably be driven to the conclusion that none of these calamities would have befallen the Mussalmans if the country had not been divided. To put it in other words, there is a direct and a serious attack upon the concept which created Pakistan. The very idea of establishing a separate Muslim homeland has been held up to ridicule. The "manifesto", therefore, tends to bring into contempt the State itself and not merely some of the persons, who may be running the State and whose shortcomings may have been responsible for producing some unfavourable conditions in the country in respect of health and material welfare. The mere fact that about the end, an appeal is made to the voters to cast their votes in favour of the nominees of the Islam League at the next election would not minimise or destroy the pernicious effects on popular mind of what had been described before.
Wali Mohammad Khan, for Petitioner.
Abdul Aziz Khan, A. A. G. for Respondent.
-Criminal Original 22 of 1949 and Criminal Original 1 of 1950 are petitions by Abdur Rahman Malik, publisher of "Jarida A1-Islah" and Hafiz Muhammad Ayub Ghaznavi, keeper of the Madan Mohan Printing Press, under section 23 of the Press (Emergency Powers) Act to set aside the order of Government, dated 26th of November 1949 demanding the deposit of the secruity of Rs. 3;000 from each, under subsection (3) of section 7 and subsection 3 of section 3 of the Press (Emergency Powers) Act, respectively, as .the publication dated 11th of July 1949 and its reproduction on 9th of September 1949 contained words of the nature described in clause (d), subsection (1) of section 4 of the said Act. These may conveniently be dealt with together. The publication in question is styled "The Manifesto of Islam League" founded by Allama Mashraqi. Its main object was said
(a) The prevention of tyrannies of the savage Hindus over 5,23,00,000 of Indian Muslims; and
(b) uniting two parts of Pakistan, that is, East and West Pakistan, 1,400 miles apart, by acquiring the intervening Provinces by constitutional means and to make the Muslims realise the sensational loss which the nation has suffered as a result of the disturbances of 1947.
Two main points were emphasised. Under point No. 1, it mentioned that the British gave the Hindus territory seven and a quarter times bigger than that given to the Muslims, though the population of the Hindus was 2.7 times that of the Muslims only. This wrong division should be set aside, particularly in view of the fact that the Muslims ruled over this country for 1,145 years and there was no trace of the Hindu rule over India. It was also mentioned that the Muslims were allowed an area of 1,68,621 square miles comprising Pakistan and in the bargain lost an area of 1,86,300 square miles (excluding hundreds of Jagirs) resulting in the extinction of 21 ruling States in India, including Kashmir State with an area of 84,471 square miles. Pakistan now rules over 55 million people, but the Muslim rule in India, over 2,38,66,000 has come to an end. The Muslim States and Jagirs yielding an annual revenue of Rupees thirty seven crores were lost to the Muslims and in return Pakistan was acquired, the annual revenue of which (including Bhawalpur, Baluchistan, etc.) amounts to Rs. 46,44,37,000. In other words, if the Muslims did not get Kashmir, they would suffer a loss of 17,679 square miles in area as against the gain of six crores in annual revenue, which was less than half the revenue of the Hyderabad State and this too at the cost of the massacre or secrifice of 61 crores of human beings. This was a shamefully small gain.
Point No. 2 related to the net result of the past 22 months' administration of the present Government, which was as follows :-
1. Fifteen lacs of Muslims were killed in the riots of 1947
2. Eighty-five lacs of persons were driven out of their homes.
3. Seventy thousand Muslim women are in the hands of Hindus.
4. Junagarh, Hyderabad and 19 other States such as Bhopal, Rampur, etc., went out of the hands of the Muslims.
5. Muslim possession over Kashmir is only 3 annas in the
6. Death-rate and diseases have increased 3 and 5 times, respectively.
7. Unemployment and dearness have increased 10 and 4 times, respectively; Flour had never been sold at two and a half or three seers a rupee during the past one thousand years of India's history. Such a state of affairs is despite the fact that at present all the Government godowns are full of wheat
8. Irreligiousness has increased instead of decreasing. Several newspapers are spreading Communism. Qadiani Mirzaiat is being revived, etc.
Such a state of affairs would never have existed had the Government been in the hands of common and middle-class people instead of a few big wigs. The Islam League was, therefore, determined to set up a Government of common people on the lines:
(1) In the next elections the Islam League should return only God-fearing persons to the Assembly, irrespective of the fact whether they are Leguers or non-Leaguers, rich or poor.
(2) Kashmir should not be lost in any circumstance, nor should it be allowed to be divided.
(3) Every adult man and woman should have the right-to vote-
(4) Wheat should sell at the rate of Rs. 4 per maund and cloth should be very cheap.
(5) The Government should provide employment for the unemployed and create work for them.
(6) It is an un Islamic act to deprive a rich man of his land and property.
(7) Communism, Qadiani Mirzaiat arid irreligousness should be eradicated.
Learned counsel for the Government took special objection to point No. 2. It was contended that the manifesto and parti cularly the matters detailed in point No. 2 tended to bring the Government into hatred and contempt and as such, fell within the mischief of clause (d) subsection (1) of section 4 of the Press Act. It was also contended that the general trend of the poster was not to criticize the doings of one or the other Minister, but to create a feeling of hatred against the Government as a whole.
It is true that lacs of Muslims were killed in the riots of 1947 that lacs of persons were uprooted from their homes in the Indian Dominion and thousands of Muslim women are still in the hands of the Hindus. There might be some dispute as to the exact number, but the broad facts are beyond dispute. The Pakistan Government came into existence on the midnight of 15th of August 1947. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in the Indian Dominion were massacred or were driven out of their homes at the point of the bayonet. All this took place in the Indian Dominion for which the Pakistan Government could not in any way be held responsible. To describe it as the achievement of "22 months" administration of the present Government" is nothing but a travesty of facts. The integration into the Indian Dominion of the States ruled by the Muslims or where the Musalmans predo minated could also not be put at the door of the Pakistan Government. The alleged rise in the rate of death and disease or the cost of living in Pakistan, after the establishment of an independent State, whether true or otherwise; might furnish some ground for the usual criticism of the Administration and the usual political cry for a change in the Ministry.
The learned counsel for the petitioners maintained that the "manifesto" was no more than a legitimate criticism of the acts of omission or commission of the party in power. References were made to the items appearing in the various newspapers since the birth of Pakistan. These no doubt lend support to some of the matters narrated in the manifesto, such as, the death of thousands of persons due to malnutrition and want of proper care, the wholesale massacre of a large number of Muslims in the Indian held territories and the evacuation of millions of people from the Indian Dominion to Pakistan.
The relevant clause under which action has been taken by the Government is as follows.-
"Section 4 (1) Whenever it appears to the Provincial Govern ment that any printing press in respect of which any security has been ordered to be deposited under section 3 is used for the -purpose of printing or publishing any newspaper, book or other document containing any words, signs or visible representations, which tend, directly or indirectly.
(d) to bring into hatred or contempt the Government established by law in Pakistan or the administration of justice in Pakistan or to excite disaffection towards the said Govern ment.
Explanation 2.-Comments expressing disapprobation of the measures of the Government with a view to obtain their alteration by lawful means without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection shall not be deemed to be of the nature described in clause (d) of this subsection."
The language of clause (d) is precisely the same as is used in section 124-A of the Indian Penal Code known as "sedition". "Sedition" as described by Fitzgerald, J. in (1868) 11 Cox. C. C. 54 at page 55, quoted with approval in A. I. R. 1942 Federal Court 22 at page 26 "embraces all those practices, whether by word, deed or writing, which are calculated to disturb the tranquility of the State and lead ignorant persons to subvert the Government. The objects of sedition generally are to induce discontent and insurrection, to stir up opposition to the Government and to bring the administration of justice into contempt; and the very tendency of sedition is to incite the people to insurrection and rebellion. Sedition has been described as disloyalty in action, and the law considers as sedition all those practices which have for their object to excite discontent or disaffection, to create public disturbance, or to lead to civil war, to bring into hatred or contempt the sovereign or Government, the laws or the constitu tion of the realm and generally all endeavours to promote public disorder." "Sedition" is, therefore, a crime against society as a whole. In all civilized countries and orderly Governments, the integrity and the preservation of the State is a matter of vital concern and is so sacred that no attempt at its disruption or weakening, directly or indirectly will be countenanced. While criticism against persons charged with the duty of running the State is tolerated and even encouraged to strengthen the State and to keep it free from all taint and corruption, no attack or tirade against the State itself is permitted.
The manifesto of "Islam League" may now be judged in the light of the above definition of "sedition". Under point No. 1, the publisher has invited the attention of the public to the grave consequences of the partition of India into "Bharat" and "Pakistan". The Mussalmans have been deprived of extensive territories over which they once held sway with' the resultant loss of revenue of crores of rupees. To this might be added the h sad and unenviable lot of crores of Mussalmans left behind in the Indian Dominion, It is yet to be seen whether this manifesto proclaiming solicitude for the welfare of crores of the Mussalmans in the Indian Dominion, has in any way alleviated or simply aggravated their already pitiable plight.
We are, however, in these petitions, more concerned with point No. 2. The immediate consequences of the partition of the country have been the massacre of fifteen lacs of Muslims, the' uprooting of eighty five lacs of persons, the detention of seventy thousand Muslim women in the hands of the non-Muslims and the loss of twenty-one Muslim States, for example, Junagarh, Bhopal, etc. Any person reading the "manifesto" with an open mind would inevitably be driven to the conclusion that none of these calamities would have befallen the Mussalmans if the country had not been divided. To put it in other words, there is a direct and a serious attack upon the concept which created Pakistan. The very idea of establishing a, separate Muslim homeland has been held up to ridicule. The manifesto", therefore, tends to bring into contempt the State itself and not merely some of the persons, who may be running the State and whose shortcomings may have been responsible for producing some unfavourable conditions in the country in respect of health and material welfare. The mere fact that about the end an appeal is made to the voters to cast their votes in favour of the nominees of the Islam League at the next election would not minimize or destroy the pernicious effects on popular mind of what had been described before.
The publication, therefore, is clearly covered by clause (d) of subsection (1) of section 4 of the Press (Emergency Powers) Act.. As such, the action taken by the Government was correct. These petitions are consequently dismissed and rupees one hundred by each of the petitioners shall be paid towards the cost of Government.
A. H. Petition dismissed.
Dealing with a matter like this? Connect with a verified advocate in your city — free on SJP Lawyers Directory.
🔍 Find a Lawyer