Guj High Court lifts ban on Jaswant's book

Gujarat HC on Friday set aside Modi government`s ban on Jaswant Singh`s book.

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Friday set aside Modi government`s order to ban Jaswant Singh`s book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, saying that the notification by the authorities falls short of the requirements of the provisions of the law under which it was issued.The state government had issued a notification under section 95 of the CrPC on August 19 banning Singh`s book `Jinnah-India, Partition, Independence` on the ground that it was against "national interest" and the contents were "misleading".

The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice KS Radhakrishnan also said that the ban was a serious intrusion on fundamental rights of the citizens. At the same time, the court said there is no restriction on the state government if it wants to come out with fresh notification. In its order, the court said that the notification fails to mention the grounds on which the book should be banned. It also said that the notification is silent on how the reading of the book will affect tranquillity of the state. The state government during the last hearing had urged the court to grant it time to come out with a fresh notification on proscribing the book. During the last hearing, petitioners --Manishi Jani and Prakash Shah- had opposed the demand for time to issue a fresh notification and had sought an order on the present notification. On the book ban issue on September one, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the Gujarat government on a petition by Singh and fixed the next date of hearing on September 8. Singh`s book if read in totality, portrays the image of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a very derogatory manner and contains direct or indirect conclusions of the author, neither true nor warranted and are not acceptable to the people of Gujarat and the state government, the state government had said in its affidavit filed in the High Court. The government had further stated that mentioning the grounds on which the notification was issued would frustrate the very object of issuing the ban on the book. And, therefore, it had refrained from stating elaborate grounds of its opinion. Government sources said the state government is likely to issue fresh notification anytime. Bureau Report