N Criminal Appeal Nos
237 238 of 1974
Appeal by special leave from the Judgment and Order dated 14 8 1973 of the Delhi High Court in Crl
Revision Nos 146 and 153 of 1971
A K Sen Gobind Das A N Karkhanis Sridharan and Mrs section Bhandare for the Appellant
H section Marwah and M N Shroff for the Respondent
1083 The Judgment of the Court was delivered by CHINNAPPA REDDY J
Can political thesis or historical truth be so presented as to promote feelings of enmity hatred or ill will between different religious groups or communities is the question which we are called upon to answer in these two criminal appeals
The appellant in the two criminal appeals is the editor publisher and printer of a monthly magazine going by the name Mother India 
He wrote two articles under the captions A tale of two communalisms and Lingering disgrace of history
On complaints filed by the Superintendent of Police Delhi under section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code he was convicted in respect of each of these articles in separate cases and sentenced in each case to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of four months and to pay a fine of Rs 1000 by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Delhi
On appeal the learned Sessions Judge Delhi confirmed the conviction in both the cases but reduced the sentence of fine to Rs 500 in each case
This was confirmed by the High Court
The appellant has preferred these appeals by Special Leave of this Court
Shri A K Sen learned counsel for the appellant submitted that if the articles were read as a whole it would be patent that the article A tale of two communalisms was no more than a political thesis and the second article Lingering disgrace of history was no more than a protest based on historical truths against the naming of roads in Delhi after Moghul emperors
He contended that neither article contained any attack on any religion and therefore there was no question of promoting and attempting to promote feelings of enmity hatred or ill will between different religious groups on grounds or religion
The convictions under section 153 A were therefore wrong he submitted
Section 153 A1 a provides whoever by words either spoken or written or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise promotes or attempts to promote on grounds of religion race place of birth residence language caste or community or any other ground whatsoever disharmony or feelings of enmity hatred or ill will between different religious racial language or regional groups or castes or communities shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years or with fine or with both
It is seen that section 153A1
a is not confined to the promotion of feelings of enmity etc
on grounds of religion only as argued by Shri Sen but takes in promotion of such feelings on other grounds as well such as race place of birth residence language caste or community
In the present case we have to consider the question whether the two articles promote on grounds of religion or community feelings of enmity hatred or ill will between different religious groups or communities
1084 The first of the articles A tale of two communalisms does begin as a sort of political thesis
According to the author communalism is an instrument of political minorities
His thesis is that militant minorities thrive on communalism
If he wanted to develop his thesis on those lines no one could object
But he referred to Muslims generally as a basically violent race and went on to say communalism is therefore an instrument of a minority with a racial tradition of rape loot violence and murder as is found in India with a Muslim population of 127
In Pakistan the Hindu minority is 66 but because its racial tradition is different it does not indulge in communal riots
Three essentials are necessary for violent communalism
The community must be a minority the minority must be sizable and the minority must have a tradition of murder and violence
We find these three essentials in the Muslim community of India
He then stated in the article that in Pakistan and particularly in East Bengal peace loving and terror struck Hindu minority was being eliminated by periodical killing and conversions on a mass scale Young Hindu males were compelled to undergo vasectomy operations young and pretty Hindu girls became the victims of Islamic beds of lust
It is then said It is not in the nature and religion of the Hindu of India to be intolerant and blood thirsty like the followers of Islam
According to him the only answer to the problem of communalism was to declare India a Hindu State
In our opinion there cannot be the slightest doubt that the article is not even thinly veiled as a political thesis it is an undisguised attempt to promote feelings of enmity hatred and ill will between the Hindu and the Muslim communities
It is designed to fan the sparks of ill will and hatred on ground of community
The reference to the alleged Muslim tradition of rape loot violence and murder and the alleged terror struck into the hearts of Hindu minority in a neighbouring country by periodical killings in the context of his thesis that communalism is the instrument of a militant minority can lead to no other inference
The second article Lingering disgrace of history  is said to be a protest against the naming of Delhi roads after the Moghul emperors who according to the author were lustful perverts rapists and murderers
According to the learned counsel the attack was directed against the Moghul rulers and not against the Muslims of India
It was also said that all the statements in the article about the lusts and perversions of the Moghul rulers were plain historical truths
On a full reading of the article it reveals much more than a protest against naming Delhi roads after Moghul rapists and perverts
At one place it is said From Mohammed Ibn Qasim who landed in India in June 1085 712 AD with 6000 Muslim cut throats to Mohomed Ali Jinnah who cut this ancient cradle of a peace loving human race into three bleeding bits in August 1947 we have had 1235 years of bloodstained history in which our life has been constantly punctuated by endless raids rapes loot arson and slaughter
In all these years Hindus have given millions of men women and children as hostages to Islam to buy some peace and preserve their own religion
They are still doing so
God alone knows how long this process of paying and appeasing Muslims will go on but it cannot go on for long if the family planning designs of the present secular government succeed
Because then pretty soon there would be no Hindu left to pay
It is difficult to predict the future of the ancient Hindu race
It has no future at all in Pakistan where a subtle and systematic genocide of the 10 million Hindus there has now been undertaken at State level by enforcing vasectomy operations on Hindu males and tubectomies on Hindu females and by raping women and converting young children to Islam
But as long as the Hindu race lasts and survives in India its only cradle and grave in the whole world it will be worthwhile setting before its children the ideals of its numerous Hindu heroes and nation builders rather than reminding them constantly of these Moghul brutes and tyrants who burnt Hindu homes ravished Hindu mothers and sisters slaughtered Hindu men and harassed and kidnapped and converted Hindu children
After referring to various perversities and tyrannies of the Moghul rulers ending with Aurangzeb he said To have a street named after this Mughal bastard in New Delhi the capital of India is not only a disgrace to the Hindus but a crying insult to the brave community of Sikhs
Had the Muslims been insulted thus they would not only have burnt every house on the road named after the tyrant but also set fire to the whole damned city
The Muslims know how to guard their traditions
He expressed the opinion that some of the ancient relics that reminded Hindus of their shame and disgrace made Muslims proud of the foul deeds of their ancestors
He made an appeal that a beginning should be made to wipe out our thousand year old shame  by changing the Muslim names of roads which remind us of the inhuman atrocities committed on our men women and children 
If the Moghuls raped looted killed and sinned the author s view appears to be that they did so as Muslim sadists
The author goes so far as to say that today s Muslims are proud of the foul deeds of their ancestors the Moghuls being considered by the author as the progenitors 1086 of the present day Indian Muslims
There is no question that the article is calculated to rouse feelings of enmity hatred and ill will between Muslims and Hindus
Whether communalism is the weapon of an aggressive and militant minority as suggested by the accused or the shield of a nervous and fearful minority the problem of communalism is not solved by castigating the members of the minority community as intolerant and blood thirsty and a community with a tradition of rape loot violence and murder
Whether the Moghuls were rapists and murderers or not and whether the Delhi roads should be named after them or not it was wrong to present the Moghuls as the ancestors of today s Muslims and to villify the Muslims as the proud descendants of the foul Moghuls
We are convinced that both the articles do promote feelings of enmity hatred and ill will between the Hindu and Muslim communities on grounds of community and this cannot be done in the guise of political thesis or historical truth
The appeals are dismissed
VDK Appeals dismissed


Summary:
Dismissing the appeals by special leave the Court  HELD Section 153A1 is not confined to the promotion of feelings of enmity etc
on grounds of religion only but takes in promotion of such feelings on other grounds as well such as race place of birth residence language caste or community
1083G In the instance case Both the articles do promote feelings of enmity hatred and ill will between the Hindu and Muslim communities
1086C iThe first article A tale of two Communalisms is not even thinly veiled as a political thesis it is an undisguised attempt to promote feelings of enmity hatred and ill will between the Hindu and the Muslim communities
It is designed to fan the sparks of ill will and hatred on ground of community
The reference to the alleged Muslim tradition of rape loot violence and murder and the alleged terror struck into the hearts of Hindu minority in a neighbouring country by periodical killings in the context of his thesis that communalism is the instrument of a militant minority can lead to no other inference
1084E F iiThe second article Lingering disgrace of history  goes further and is calculated to rouse feelings of enmity hatred and ill will between Muslims and Hindus
It was wrong to present the Moghuls as the ancestors of today s Muslims and to willify the Muslims as the proud discendants of the foul Moghuls
1084G 1086A B C Feelings of enmity hatred or ill will between different religious groups or communities cannot be promoted in the guise of political thesis of historical truth
1086C