Report No. 38
61. Suggestions regarding section 20.-
We have received a suggestion1 to add a new clause in section 20, to the effect, that no person shall send by post any article which is prejudicial to the security of India, or which is likely to bring India into disrepute with other countries or which questions the territorial integrity of India. We think, that the existing provisions of sections 20(b) (read with section 61), 26 and 27B (i)(ii), Post Office Act, and section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, and the general law of abetment and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and the Criminal Law Amendment Act,2 dealing with writings questioning the territorial integrity of India, are enough.
In the absence of any practical difficulty; it would not be advisable to insert a wide section in the Post Office Act, particularly when there is no such general crime of "acts prejudicial to the security of the State" (apart from the provisions in the Defence of India Rules and other similar special or temporary laws).
1. S. No. 81 (A State Government).
2. The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1961 (23 of 1961).
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