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LAW OF THE PRESS
By
DURGA DAS BASU
T
he subject of this book formed the Asutosh Lectures, 1976, of the Calcutta University, which have been marshalled as a book with embellishments and modifications in the light of legislative changes and judicial decisions reported since then. An encyclopaedia, which contains all the common and statutory law and the leading judicial decisions relating to the Press, the book will be an indispensable guide to lawyers, journalists, students and foreigners alike. Already prescribed for post-Graduate course on Journalism in several University, e.g., Calcutta, Jabalpur.
What prompted the author to take up this subject 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 which have been marshalled in the form of a book, called for by subsequent changes in legislation and judicial decisions, answer that need. Though it professes to be written on Indian material, comparative situations in the U.K. and the U.S.A. have been referred to wherever necessary, to explain the foundation as well as deviations under the Constitution 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.
Journalism has been prescribed a postgraduate 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 focussed on this subject, so that this book, written on a comparative pattern, may be expected to be of interest to foreign readers and publicists.
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