AMN
The Supreme Court has refused to ban the controversial book Samajika Smugglurlu Komatollu penned by Kancha Ilaiah, saying every author has a fundamental right to voice ideas freely.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud junked a PIL filed by a lawyer seeking direction to the government to ban the book.
The apex court said, any request to ban a book has to be strictly scrutinised and curtailment of an individual writer or author’s right to freedom of speech and expression should never be viewed lightly.
The plea alleged that the writer had made baseless allegations against certain castes in his book and tried to divide the society on caste lines.
It said a criminal case had also been registered against him in Andhra Pradesh for hurting sentiments of people belonging to certain castes and urged the court to ban the book.