New Delhi, Nov 30 The Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected a fresh petition seeking direction from the Centre and Delhi government to stop the publication, circulation, and sale of former Union Minister and Congress leader Salman Khurshid's "controversial" book for its alleged remarks on Hindutva likening it to radical jihadist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram.
While refusing to entertain the plea, the bench presided over by Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Jyoti Singh, observed that the petitioner had even not made the author of the book and publication house a party in the petition.
A controversy erupted after many complaints came up against Khurshid's latest book, "Sunrise Over Ayodhya: Nationhood in Our Times", in which there is comparison between Hindutva with radical Islamist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram.
The comment has been made in a chapter called "The Saffron Sky" on Page 113 of the book which reads "Sanatan dharma and classical Hinduism known to sages and saints was being pushed aside by a robust version of Hindutva, by all standards."
In a similar plea in the last week, the High Court had dismissed a Delhi lawyer's petition.
During the course of the hearing on November 25, the bench of Justice Yashwant Varma had orally observed that it is just an excerpt from the book.
Further, the counsel argued that the book will create communal problems and then requested to remove the excerpt.
"Tell everyone that the book is badly written. Tell them to read something better. what can we do if people are so sensitive? Nobody has asked them to read it," the judge said while dismissing the petition.
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