A day after her legal win in London over Katherine Frank`s biography on her late mother-in-law and former prime minister indira gandhi, union minister Maneka Gandhi had another occasion to cheer as the Supreme Court on Friday admitted her challenge against a Delhi Court dismissal of her plea to ban Khushwant Singh`s autobiography - ``Truth, Love And Little Malice``. A bench of justice U C Banerjee and Justice Y K Sabharwal admitted her special leave petition saying that it involved an important question of law.
She has been seeking a ban on the book alleging that it scandalised the Nehru family by making defamatory comments.
The court, however, did not stay the operation of the impugned High Court judgment. Her previous petition was filed before the High Court soon after the excerpts from the book were published in a magazine.
The High Court, which had earlier restrained Kushwant Singh from going ahead with the publication of the book, subsequently vacated the restraint order.
The High Court said that the question of defamation would arise only after the publication of the book and Singh was prepared to face the consequences as stated by his counsel before the High Court.
Maneka on Thursday won a public apology and damages over allegations she was involved in a cover-up of her late husband Sanjay Gandhi`s alleged involvement in a 1976 murder.
Her lawyer Edward Garnier told the High Court in London that the allegations were made in a biography of Gandhi`s mother-in-law -- ``Indira: the life of Indira Nehru Gandhi`` -- written by Katherine Frank and published by Harper Collins. Bureau Report