NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a petition seeking ban on the book penned by former Union minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid. The court said that if the petitioner had a problem with the book, he could ask people not to read or buy the book. A bench of Justice Yashwant Varma was hearing a petition filed by Vineet Jindal against the book Sunrise over Ayodhya-Nationhood in our times by Khurshid.
“Tell everyone that the book is badly authored, ask them to read something better. What can we do if people are feeling so sensitive? Nobody is asking them to read it,” said Justice Yashwant Varma while dismissing the petition filed by Jindal through advocate Raj Kishore Chaudhary. According to the petition, in his book, Khurshid has compared Hindutva to radical jihadist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram. It also cited a chapter from the book.
During the hearing, the petitioner’s counsel cited an excerpt from the book “The chapter called ‘The Saffron Sky’ at Page 113 of the book reads as ‘Sanatan Dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints was being pushed aside by a robust version of the Hindutva, by all standards a political version similar to jihadist Islam of groups likes ISIS and Boko Haram’.” The petitioner stated the book was causing “breach of public peace”.
To this, the court asked “where the public peace has been breached?” The counsel stated that nothing now but it may happen and it has started at some places. Even in Nainital something happened recently, said the counsel. Khurshid’s Nainital house was vandalised by a mob recently after the book’s release. “The moment this book is released it will lead to communal violence,” the counsel said, adding that Khurshid being a member of Parliament and former law minister is a public figure and has a larger influence on the public.