NEW DELHI: Echoing for the craftsmanship of a writer which needs to be respected, the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea seeking a ban on the publication of Malayalam novel 'Meesha' (moustache) on the grounds that it allegedly depicts temple-going Hindu women in a derogatory light.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that the culture of banning books impacts the free flow of ideas and said, “A person's subjective perception of a novel or work of fiction cannot enter legal arena to seek its ban.”
Authoring the judgement himself, CJI said imagination of a writer must enjoy the freedom and it cannot be ordered to be fashioned in a particular manner.
The order came on the plea filed by Delhi resident N Radhakrishnan, who sought a direction to delete certain portions from a novel by S Hareesh as it allegedly defamed temple going Hindu women.
Centre and the Kerala government had also opposed the petition saying free speech should not be curtailed.
The petitioner had objected to a dialogue between two characters in the novel, which allegedly insults Hindu women.
During the hearing, the bench had observed, “We cannot make a virtue of banning those to ban this. Literary work is amenable to criticism. The culture of banning books directly impacts the flow of ideas unless it hits Section 292 of Indian Penal Code.”