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"I am the cremation ground. I am the bloodthirsty goddess Kali who lives and moves about in the cremation ground. Plague or famine is my great joy ....... I am thirsty, I want blood, I want revolution,.
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I want faith in the struggle. Tear, tear the chain of wrongs; Break thou the proud head of the oppressor."

Reference was also made to a passage in which the writer desires that his cries should be heard by people far and near, that his call should be hearkened far far away across the hills, the jungles, across the rivers and rivulets and all those who hear should come forward to join the ranks in destroying the oppressor and in which he claims that he is the messenger of death, that his revolutionary song signals the door of each of the listeners and signals to them to come out if they have life, if they have health, if they have courage to come and dash to pieces those who commit oppression on the mother, and he says that with the blood of those followers let the revolution grow. It winds up with an invocation to the readers in these terms :--

"If mother be true, let no disgrace spread in the name of the mother. If mother tongue be equal to mother, then the said language is your most revered goddess. Do not allow disgrace to spread in her name".

It is not the case of the Government and there is no statement or affidavit to that effect, that the passages here have any reference to the language controversy which agitated and probably is still agitating this particular district. In another part of the document the expression "narrow parochial politics" has been used, but here again the Government has not made any attempt to explain, what this expression could, in the particular context, mean or refer to. As no acts of injustice or oppression are actually mentioned in the document, it is difficult to say who the "oppressors" are, whose "proud heads" the author asks his readers to break. It is quite clear that the "oppressor" mentioned here is neither the Government nor the party in power, nor has it any relation to any particular class of persons or a sect or community which might be harassing others and trampling upon their rights. It may be, that to attract the operation of section 4 (1) (a) of the Indian Press Act, the incitement to murder or violence need not be specifically directed against particular individuals or class of persons; but when the whole talk is about injustice or oppression in the abstract, which is stated by the author to be in existence from the beginning of time and when in hyperbolic language a hope is expressed of establishing a better and a cleaner world through struggle, sweat and blood, the words used may not improperly be looked upon as an effusion of poetic fancy which, having no relation to actual facts can have very little potency for doing mis- chief. I will now proceed to examine the contents of the pamphlet in detail.

It is again likened successively to the frown of the be- loved, to famine, storm and evil days. The call is sent to everybody to come on "where the sky is cracking and the endless rough and thorny path is shrouded in darkness" and assist in building up a new world.. Many of the expressions used here are taken verbatim from the writings of some well-known Bengalee authors, though they sound nothing but a rigmarole in the present context.

The next paragraph begins with the word "revolution". Struggle is revolution and through struggle and revolution the world is to be built anew. It is then said that "death is my darling and death is the only truth in this world". If one has to die, there is no sense in dying of illness. Let a man choose an honourable death by standing against oppressors. Quite abruptly the author brings in the name of Sri Subhas Chandra Bose in the midst of this talk and asks his readers to listen "far far away across the hills, across the jungle, across the rivers and rivulets the call of Subhas Chandra Bose, the greatest revolutionary leader of the world". The people are asked not to stop until the objective is attained. Again it is said "I am struggle, I am revolution ...... I am a Hindu, I am a Mussalman, I am a Christian, I am a Jew, I am a Keduin, I am severed from all religions by the fruits of my action in previous births". Without the least attention to any sequence of thought, immediately after this, the imaginary oppressor is addressed by the author as follows:

"Death" it is said "is my secret love, poison is my drink, the flames of fire are my sweet breeze, the cry of childless mothers a tune in my flute and the weeping of widows a rythm of my song". In this vein the author goes on conjuring up all the uncanny and weird things in the world and associat- ing them with struggle. "I am not joy, I am the remnant of the dying cries ...... I am the bloodthirsty goddess Kali who lives and moves about in the cremation ground. I want blood ............ Break the proud head of the oppressor. I bathe in flames ............... Thunder is my kiss of affection ......... I do not understand myself. I do not know myself. I do not recognise myself still I want revo- lution, still I want struggle". The learned Judges of the High Court laid very great stress on these passages which in their opinion constitute a direct incitement to bloody revolution; and that is also the line of argument adopted by Mr. Mitter who appeared before us on behalf of the State. It has been argued by Mr. Ghosh appearing for the respondent that the "struggle" which the author has depicted and which he aims at is a non-violent struggle and the blood that is to be shed is the blood of those who are called upon to resist oppression and injustice. On the other hand, it is argued on behalf of the State that the passages quoted above can only mean that it is a bloody and violent revolution which could carry men to their desired end. In my opinion, neither of these contentions furnish to us the proper method of approach to the question which requires decision in the present case. We would have to look at the article as a whole and focus our attention on what can be regarded to be its central theme or purpose. As has been said already, what the writer wants is to draw an ideal picture of "struggle" or revolution quite unconnected with any particular place, or any particular political or social environment. Injustice or oppression exists, according to the author, from the very dawn of time and so also does struggle or revolution. It is an integral part of the world process and is a sort of irrational or blind impulse. This is expressed by saying "I do not understand myself,I do not recognise myself, still I want revolution". In painting death or war, the artist would naturally choose some uncanny associations. The trappings of revolution, as the author paints it, are all the fearful and hideous things in this world. It is linked up with thunder and storm, fire and devastation, cataclysm, famine, danger, destruction and death. It is immaterial so far as this ideal picture is concerned whether the blood that is spoken of is the blood of the oppressor or of the oppressed, and whether the strug- gle is violent or pacific. The goddess Kali in the Hindu mythology is the goddess of destruction and death, but she is the benign goddess also whose protecting hands ward off all oppressions, danger and calamity. That is the reason why revolution or struggle is assimilated to this goddess. It cannot be denied that in painting this picture of "strug- gle" or revolution the author has used very strong words; but they would not be unnatural if it is only an ideal picture that the author really desired to paint. If howev- er, it can be shown that under the cloud of these general enigmatical words something concrete and tangible lies hidden, that the "oppression" and "oppressor" are not imagi- nary abstractions but are real things not unknown to the people to whom the article is addressed and there is in fact a grievance agitating the popular mind, no matter whether it is well or ill founded, against which the author desires to inflame public opinion;then even though he uses veiled or covert language, there can be no doubt that the article would come within the purview of section 4 (1) (a) of the Indian Press Act. But the difficulty is that the Government has not made any attempt to establish any of these facts. Without knowing the attendant circumstances and the actual background of the publication, it is not possible for us to ascertain the real intention that lies behind the writing; and absolutely no materials have been placed before us by the Government which might enable us to find out what in reality was the sub- stance behind this camouflage of words, if camouflage it actually is.