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Journalism of Courage
The Bombay High Court on Thursday set aside the government notification banning American author James Laine’s controversial book Shivaji —The Hindu King in Islamic India.
“Those who rule this country do not have the monopoly of wisdom and they can’t decide what the sovereign people of India should know or not know,” observed the bench comprising Justice F I Rebello, Justice V K Tahilramani and Justice Abhay Oka.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had quashed criminal proceedings against Laine stating “the writings in the book do not constitute an offence under which the FIR against Laine was lodged”.
The book was banned in January 2004 after members of the Shambhaji Brigade reportedly ransacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune where Laine had done some of his research. Advocate Sanghraj Rupawate, documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan and activist Kunda Pramila had filed the petition in the HC challenging the ban. The petitioners argued that the book did not contain anything disparaging or scurrilous about Shivaji, whom they too respect.
The lawyer for the petitioners, P A Sebastian, had argued that there were no two groups between which the book allegedly promoted enmity.
