Law of the press in India

What prompted me to take up this subject for the Asutosh Lectures of the Calcutta University (delivered in the year 1978), was that while. there was a mass of journalistic literature, in India and abroad, on the freedom and working of the Press, there was hardly any comprehensive work written from the legal standpoint, to explain what that freedom meant in the context of the laws relating to the Press.

The contents of those Lectures, which have now been marshalled in the form of a book, with embellishments and modifications called for by subsequent changes in legislation and judicial decisions, answer that need. Though it professes to be written on Indian materials, comparative situations in the U.K. and the U.S.A. have been referred to wherever neces sary, to explain the foundation as well as deviations under the Constitu tion and laws of India. Even from the standpoint of political philosophy. a study of such restrictive laws is essential inasmuch as the ambit of the freedom of the Press in any country varies in inverse ratio to the extent

and gravity of the restrictions imposed by such laws. The scheme of this work, as will be presently explained, will, it is hoped, make it indispensable to journalists, lawyers, publishers, and stu dents alike in India and abroad.Journalism has been prescribed as a post-graduate course of study by various Universities in India. Press law is included therein, but there is no book so far published which would adequately meet the requirements of a journalist who has to face a number of laws of different categories, as this book will show.

A lawyer who has to conduct any case relating to the Press or its personnel will find it a treasure containing various enactments on which interpretation is hardly available. Students of Political Science and Law as well as general readers will be delighted to have a comprehensive discussion of the basic principles relating to the freedom of the Press,-from its constitutional, philosophical and legal standpoints,
In view of the recent political and constitutional changes in India, the attention of foreigners has also been focused on this subject, so that this book, written on a comparative pattern, may be expected to be of interest to foreign readers and publicists.