TION Criminal AppealNo
21 of 1976
From the judgment and Order dated 20 8 1975 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in Misc
Criminal Case No 101075
B Sen Mrs AK Verma 1
B Dadachanji OC Mathur and R Narain for the appellant
Nemo for the respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by RAY CJ
This is an appeal under section 191b of the referred to as the Act against the order dated 20 August
1975 of the High Court at Jabalpur convicting the appellant and sentencing him to suffer imprisonment till the rising of the Court under section 4 of the Act and to pay a fine of Rs 100 
The High Court however accepted the apology of the appellant for the purpose of remitting the punishment under the proviso to section 121 of the Act and remitted the sentence and ordered the appellant to pay the paper book costs and to bear his own costs
The appellant is a District Magistrate of District Rajnandgaon in Madhya Pradesh
A detenu Vidya Bhushan Thakur challenged in the High Court by way of a habeas corpus petition the validity of his detention order passed by the appellant under section 31 a of the 
On 1 August 1975 the High Court directed the production of the detenu in court on 8 August 1975
On 5 August 1975 the appellant received a telegram from the office of the Advocate General Madhya Pradesh intimating the appellant the order of the High Court to produce the detenu Vidya Bhushan Thakur before the High Court on 8 August 1975 in connection with the habeas corpus petition
Immediately on receipt of the telegram from the office of the Advocate General the appellant communicated the same to the Superintendent Central Jail Raipur directing him to send the detenu to 100 Jabalpur under strong guard for his production before the High Court on 8 August 1975
The order was communicated to the Superintendent Central Jail Raipur on the same day and accordingly the Superintendent sent the detenu on 6 August 1975 at 535 pm to Jabalpur and thereafter the detenu was duly produced in Court on 8 August 1975
The State Government had passed an order under section 268 of the Criminal Procedure Code which was published in the Official Gazette on 1 August 1975
The appellant referred the matter to the Home Secretary for clarification of the notification vide a wireless message dated 6 August 1975 as to whether the detenus under the are to
be produced before the High Court in connection with thehabeas corpus petitions
The appellant also spoke to the Government Advocate on 6 August 1975 and brought to his notice the above notifica tion of the State Government
The Government Advocate in formed the appellant on telephone that neither the Advocate General nor the High Court had so far received a copy of the said notification
The appellant then informed the Government Advocate that he would be sending a copy of the said notification by wireless for information
The appel lant despatched the wireless message to the Government AdVocate at Advocate General s address quoting the notifica tion as received from the Government
The wireless message quoted the
notification and the request of the appellant to the Advocate General was as follows  In the light of above Government Notifica tion he was requested to request the Court not to insist on the production of Vidya Bhushan Thakur as there is strong possibility of disturbance of public order if Vidya Bhusban Thakur is taken out from jail
Kindly inform the Government regarding the action taken
 On 6 August 1975 after the telephonic conversation with the Government Advocate the appellant again directed the Superintendent Central Jail Raipur to produce the detenu before the High Court on the date of hearing and informed the Advocate General that the detenu would be produced before the High COurt and the detenu was in fact produced before the Court
The High Court took the view that the wireless message dated 6 August 1975 addressed to the Advocate General with a copy to the
Registrar of the High CoUrt amounted to an expression by the appellant of his inability to obey the order of the Court on account of the notification issued by the State Government published in the Official Gazette on 1 August 1975
The High Court ordered the appellant to show cause why he should not be committed for contempt in exer cise of the  powers of the Court under Article 215 of the Constitution read with section 10 of the Act
The appellant appeared before the High Court on 13 August 1975
The case was adjourned to 14 August 1975 to enable the filing of a reply which was submitted in the form of an affidavit together with some enclosures
The appel lant pleaded for the discharge of Rule 101 Nisi on the ground that no contempt of court was committed and that wireless message to the Advocate General did not constitute a contempt of court
The High Court by order dated 20 August 1975 found the appellant guilty of contempt by holding that the appellant had sent the wireless message dated 6 August 1975 without waiting for reply from the State Government regarding the clarification of its Notification
The appellant on 6 August 1975 referred to the Home Secretary for clarification of the notification dated 1 August 1975
The appellant sent a copy of the notification to the Advocate General
The appellant also directed the Superintendent Central Jail Raipur to produce the detenu before the Court
The detenu in fact was pro duced before the High Court
All these features indicate that the appellant throughout acted in a careful and re sponsible manner
The reply of the Government to the clarification asked for by the appellant on 6 August 1975 was received on 8 August 1975 that is to say two days after the wireless message had been sent to the Advocate General
The clarifi cation message of the Government reached the appellant in the afternoon of 8 August 1975 viz the date on which the detenu was to have been produced in court
The State Govern ment in the note clarifying the position informed the appel lant that in case the appellant was advised to produce the detenu before the High Court and if the High Court insisted on such production the High Court should be informed well before the date on which the detenu is to be produced by an affidavit sworn by an officer in charge that there is danger to public order if the detenu as produced
It appears that the appellant had acted just as the Government clarification suggested
The appellant gave the notification to the Advocate General because the latter did not have it and asked for it
The appellant asked for clarification from the State Government as to the notification because of the situation in which he was placed
The appellant sent instructions to the Superintendent Central Jail Raipur to produce the detenu
The detenu was produced before the High Court
The appellant took all steps in good faith
The appellant from the beginning gave directions for production of the detenu
The High Court held that the affidavit of the appellant contained no reference to the telephonic talk with the Advocate General pursuant to which a telegram had been sent and therefore it was a false affidavit
The High Court also held that sending a copy of the wireless message addressed to the Advocate General to the Registrar of the High Court for information amounted to an attempt to interfere with the order of the High Court
The appellant sent a copy of the wireless message ad dressed to the Advocate General to the Registrar for infor mation only
The appellant took all steps to produce the detenu even before the receipt of the clarification or advice by the State Government for production of the detenu before the High Court
The appellant sent the wireless message to the Advocate General only to apprise him of the notification sent by the State Government
The appellant sent that information inasmuch 102 as the Government Advocate had informed the appellant that neither the Advocate General nor the High Court was aware of the said notification issued by the State Government
The appellant requested the Advocate General to request the Court not to insist on the production having regard to the public order which request was consistent with the direction of the State Government
The absence of reference to the telephonic talk in the affidavit does not mean that no such talk in fact took place
The appellant produced the telephone bill as well as the letter of the Advocate General to show that there was in fact a telephonic conversation
The appellant communicated to the Advocate General in the discharge of his official duties the notification issued by the Government
The appellant requested the Advocate General to request the High Court not to insist on the production
The wireless
mes sage was not addressed to the Court
The original addressee was the Advocate General
A copy was sent to the Registrar for information that such a telegram had been sent to the Advocate General
The appellant tendered apology with grace and not as a coward
The appellant produced the detenu
The appellant at no stage interfered with any order of the High Court
The appellant never showed any disobedience
On the contrary the appellant acted in obedience to the order of the High Court
The High Court accepted the apology for the limited purpose of remitting the punishment
The order of the High Court cannot be sustaining in view of the tender of apology by the appellant as well as the production of the detenu
The appeal is accepted
The judgment and order of the High Court are set aside
SR Appeal allowed


Summary:
Pursuant to telegraphic information dated 5 August 1975 received from the Advocate General Madhya Pradesh communi cating the directions of the Jabalpur Bench of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh dated 1 August 1975 for the produc tion of a detenu held under section 31a of the MISA 1971 in the court on 8 August 1975 the appellant a district Magistrate instructed the Superintendent Central Jail Raipur to send the detenu to Jabalpur under strong guard for his production before the High Court on 8 August 1975
The detenu was duly produced in court on 8 August 1975
While seeking a clarification from the Home Secretary on the order passed by the State Government under section 268 Criminal Procedure Code which was gazetted on 1 August 1975 as to whether the detenu under the MISA is to be produced before the High Court in connection with the habeas corpus petition the appellant also spoke to the Government advocate and the Advocate General about the notification
Since they desired the copy of the notification the appel lant despatched a wireless message to Advocate General as follows In the light of the above notification he was requested to request the court not to insist on the production of VBT as there is strong
possibility of disturbance of public order if VBT is taken out from jail
Kindly inform the Government regarding the action taken
 A copy of the wireless message was endorsed to the respond ent by way of abundant caution
Viewing this as amounting to an expression by the appellant of his inability to obey the order of the court on account of the notification issued by the State Government published in the official gazette on 1 August 1975 the High Court in exercise of the powers of the court under article 215 of the Constitution read with section 10 of the Contempt of Court Act Act No 70 of 1971 ordered the appellant to show cause why he should not be committed for contempt for which the appellant submitted his reply in the form of an affidavit pleading for the discharge of rule nisi on the ground that no contempt of court was committed and that the wireless message to the Advocate General did not constitute a contempt of court
The High Court found the appellant guilty for contempt by holding that the appellant had sent the wireless message dated 6 August 1975 without waiting for the reply from the State Government regarding the clarification of its notifi cation and convicted the appellant and sentenced him to
suffer imprisonment till the rising of the court under section 4 of the Contempt of Court Act 1971 and to pay a fine of Rs 100 
The High Court however accepted the apology of the appellant for the purpose of remitting the punishment under the proviso to section 121 of the Act and remitted the sentence and ordered the appellant to
pay the paper book costs and to bear his own costs
Hence the appeal under section 191b of the Act
Accepting the appeal to this Court HELD The order of the High Court cannot be sustained in view of the tender of apology by the appellant as well as the production of the detenu102 D All these features namely referring to the Home Secre tary for clarification of the notification dated 1 August 1975 sending a copy of the said notification 99 to the Advocate General directing the Superintendent Central Jail to produce the detenu before the court and the detenu in fact having been produced before the High Court indicate that the appellant throughout acted in a careful and responsible manner and took all steps in good faith
101 B CF HELD FURTHER In the instant case the appellant from the
beginning gave directions for production of the detenu
wireless message was not addressed to the court but to the Advocate General only to apprise him of the notifica tion sent by the State Government so that a request may be made to the court not to insist on the production of the detenu in the interest of public order
The copy thereof to the Registrar is for information only
The absence
of reference to the
telephonic talk in the affidavit does net mean that no such talk in fact took place
The appellant tendered apology with grace and not as a coward
The appel lant at no stage interfered with any order of the High Court
The appellant never showed any disobedience
On the contrary the appellant acted in obedience to the order of the High Court
101 F G H 1012 A D