SHUBNATH DEOGRAM versus RAM NARAIN PRASAD AND OTHERS

Citation: [1960] 1 S.C.R. 953 · Decided: 08-10-1959 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: S.K. DAS · Disposal: Dismissed

Cited by 2 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

,. 
-( 
S.C.R. 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
953 
It was then said that we should remand the case 
z959 
back to the High Court for giving proper hearing to 
the appellant, but we do not think that we should 
Drc~u:n~:'" 
make that order either. All that has happened is 
v. 
that the High Court has made the order in breach of The s1at1 of Assam 
the section and what we are called upon to do is.to set 
aside that order. What further action can be taken in 
Sarkar J. 
accordance with law is for the High Court to decide. 
The result, therefore, is that this order of the High 
Court is set aside and the appeal is consequently 
allowed. 
Appeal allowed. 
SHUBNATH DEOGRAM 
v. 
RAM NARAIN PRASAD AND OTHERS 
(S. K. DAS, P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, A. K. SARKAR, 
K. SuBBA RAO and M. HIDAYATULLAH, JJ.) 
Election Petition-Corrupt practice-Appeal to vote on grounds 
of religion-Leaflet issued by party-Construction of-Representa-
tion of the People Act, I95I (43 of I95I), s. Iz3(3). 
The appellant, a candidate set up by the Jharkhand Party, 
was declared elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly from the 
Manoharpur constit~ency in the district of Singbhum. He was 
an Adibasi belonging to 'Ho' community, and the constituency 
also consisted of electors belonging largely to' the Adibasi com-
munities of Hos, Mundas and Oraons. The symbol chosen by the 
party and allotted by the Election Commission to it was a cock. 
The cock was not a religious symbol of the Adibasis but it 
formed an integral part of the religious ceremonies which they 
performed while worshipping some of their important deities .. 
Cocks were often offered as sarcifices to the deities. The Jhar-
khand Party issued a1leaflet containing an appeal for votes and the 
appellant and his agents distributed the leaflet among the 
electorate and made speeches in its terms. The leaflet. was in 
verse wherein the appeal for votes was made by a cock; the relev-
ant portion was as follows : 
" Respected sons of men open your eyes, lend your ears 
Recognise me and my crow. 
In your services and worships 
In the Worship of your forest God (Buru) 
In Stomach pain and headache 
At the time· of your distress and miseries 
1959 
October 8 
I959 
Shubnath Deogram 
~. 
Ram Narain 
Prasad 
954 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1960(1)] 
I am with you even after giving my life. You recover 
(from illness) even by applying knife at my neck. This 
thought gives me pleasure. In exchange of this give me 
chara in the shape of vote I am victorious. Do not forget 
me, otherwise I tell, ye sons of men will suffer eternal 
miseries. " 
The respondent filed an election petition challenging the 
election of the appellant, inter alia, on the ground that in distri-
buting and publishing this leaflet the appellant had committed 
the corrupt practice of making a systematic appeal to vote on 
grounds of religion. 
Held (Subba Rao, J., dissenting), that the leaflet contained an 
appeal on the ground of religion and the appellant was guilty of 
the corrupt practice charged. The reference to the sacrifice of 
the cock was meant to convey to the electors the obtaining of the 
pleasure of the deities. When the cock in the leaflet said " give 
me chara in the shape of votes ", what it said in substance was 
that the giving of such votes would result in pleasing the deities. 
The concluding words clearly invoked the wrath of the deities on 
the electorate in case they forgot the cock, i.e., forgot to vote for 
the party of which it was the symbol. 
This was clearly an 
appeal on the grounds of religion, for the substance of it was 
that it would be an irreligious act not to vote for the party. 
Per Subba Rao, J.-The leaflet contains merely an appeal in 
metaphorical language and really meant that the candidate (or 
the party) would sacrifice his (or its) life for the cause of the 
constituency just as the cock sacrificed its life for the happiness 
of the people, and just as the people suffered eternal miseries if 
the cock was not fed the constituency would suffer if votes were 
not given for the candidate (or the Party). Besides, the animal 
which w~s sacrificed was not an object of veneration but was only 
a convenient or conventional sacrificial medium and it could not 
be said that any reference to a sacrificial bird or animal was a 
reference to religion. 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 
300of1959. 
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and 
order dated March 20, 1959, of the Patna High Court, 
in Elec

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