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Petition challenging ban on book filed in Gujarat High Court

Manas Dasgupta

AHMEDABAD: A petition challenging the validity and constitutionality of the Gujarat government’s notification banning the publication, sale and distribution of Jaswant Singh’s controversial book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the State, was filed in the Gujarat High Court on Monday.

The petitioners, Prakash Shah, a veteran freelance journalist, and Manishi Jani, a social activist and president of the Gujarati Writers’ Association, said banning the publication of the book violated their fundamental rights under the constitution and should be quashed.

The petition was filed under section 96 of the Criminal Procedure Code which requires that the Chief Justice of the High Court constitute a special Bench of not less than three judges and that the matter be heard urgently within two months.

The petitioners cited several court orders in the past quashing such ban orders by governments. It was pointed out that section 95 of the Cr. P.C. based on which the State government had issued its directive , required that any publication could be banned only if the contents were blasphemous, seditious or obscene.

The petition said although the contents of the book were not known since its publication was banned, considering the fact that it was written by a former Union Minister and a former army officer, it wasn’t likely that its contents would fall in either category specified under section 95 of the Cr. P.C.

The petitioners have also requested for a stay on the implementation of the government’s ban order till the court disposed of the petition, particularly because the order did not specify the grounds on which the book had been banned in the State.

The State Home Department’s notification of August 19 had only stated that the “contents of the book are highly objectionable and against the national interest” and that the government was of the “opinion that the contents of the book are misleading to the public and are against the tranquillity of the public and against the interests of the State.” Therefore the government was “of the opinion that the book must be forfeited and prohibited in the interest of the State.”

The petitioners pointed out that the notification did not clearly mention what was objectionable in the book thus imposing an unreasonable restriction on the citizens of Gujarat, violating their constitutional right of freedom of expression under article 19 of the Constitution.

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