Khurshid Book Row: Delhi court refuses to ban 'Sunrise Over Ayodhya'

A Delhi court on Wednesday refused to grant an ex-parte injunction in a lawsuit seeking direction to stop the publication, circulation, and sale of former Union Minister Salman Khurshid's book. The suit, filed by Hindu Sena President Vishnu Gupta, has sought direction from the authorities concerned to ban the book titled "Sunrise Over Ayodhya" for allegedly hurting the sentiments

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday refused to grant an ex-parte injunction in a lawsuit seeking direction to stop the publication, circulation, and sale of former Union Minister Salman Khurshid's book for allegedly hurting sentiments of a large section of the society. The suit, filed by Hindu Sena President Vishnu Gupta, has sought direction from the authorities concerned to stop the publication, circulation, and sale of the book titled "Sunrise Over Ayodhya" for allegedly hurting the sentiments.

Additional Civil Judge Preeti Parewa put up the matter for arguments and clarification on the maintainability of the suit on November 18. In the opinion of this court, neither a prima facie case nor any exceptional circumstance for grant of ad-interim ex-parte injunction in favour of the plaintiff is made out in the present case.

"Also, the plaintiff has failed to establish that the balance of convenience lies in his favour. Hence, the prayer for ad-interim ex-parte relief is declined at this stage, the judge said. The court said that the author and publisher had the right to write and publish the book.

The plaintiff has not been able to establish that inconvenience will be caused to him to avoid the book or alleged 'offensive' excerpts of the book. On the other hand, the injunction would lead to hardship for the publishers and also curtail the right of speech and expression of the author, the court said.

It said that the applicant can always propagate against the book and can even publish a rebuttal to the alleged paragraphs which have hurt his sentiments. Also, only a copy of the excerpt has been placed on record and such excerpt cannot be read in exclusion/isolation for interpreting the context in which the said statement has been made, the court noted.

The plea claimed that the book launch event just before the upcoming Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh was aimed at polarising and gaining the votes of the minorities in the state. The plea seeks a prohibitory injunction to prohibit the publication, distribution, circulation, and sale of the book and also ban the book in the larger interest of the society and country.

PTI