Publisher HarperCollins Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court seeking vacation of an interim stay on the publication of a book on self-styled Godman Asaram Bapu titled Gunning for the Godman: The True Story Behind Asaram's Conviction'. The counsel for the publisher submitted before the high court that on July 22, it was widely published in the media that the book will be launched on September 5. However, a suit for injunction was filed in the trial court on the eve of release of the book.
Justice Najmi Waziri issued notice to a co-convict in the Asaram Bapu rape case, Sanchita Gupta alias Shilpi on the appeal by the publisher. The high court noted the submissions of the lawyers and listed the matter for Wednesday.
During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the publisher, said the trial court passed an ex-parte interim injunction order on September 4 and restrained the publication of the book, and the stay should be vacated. This is very serious. All the books have already been distributed to the distributors. It has become a trend in the last few years that they move court on the eve of release of a book and get an ex-parte stay, he argued.
He said the plaintiff woman has not come to court with clean hands and she had not annexed a copy of the judgement, in the rape case, before the trial court which could have then seen whether objections raised by her have any basis in the law. He added that the book was written on the basis of the record of the case and it was a story of an investigating officer of the case which was based on the evidence recorded during the trial and the Godman along with the plaintiff was convicted.
However, the counsel for the woman opposed the appeal saying the contents of the book was not found in record and if it is allowed to be published, it will cause her irreparable loss. Senior advocate Devdutt Kamat, appearing for the woman, said there was defamatory material published in the book.
At the outset of the hearing, the judge clarified that publisher HarperCollins has published various books of his spouse and several other projects are going on. To this, counsel for both the parties submitted that they do not have any problem with the judge hearing this matter.
Amazon and Flipkart were deleted as parties after they submitted that they were not necessary parties to the case and they will abide by the court's order to be passed in the suit. The book, Gunning for the Godman: The True Story Behind Asaram Bapu's Conviction', is authored by Ajay Lamba, Additional Commissioner of Police, Jaipur and Sanjiv Mathur, and was scheduled to be released on September 5.
On September 4, an additional district judge had stayed the publication of the book on the ground that the appeal against the conviction in the rape case was sub-judice before the Rajasthan High Court. In April 2018, Asaram was sentenced to life term in the 2013 case of rape of a minor girl. Co-convicts Sharatchandra and Sanchita alias Shilpi were sentenced to 20 years in prison and co-accused Shiva and Prakash were acquitted.
In the suit, Sanchita had argued that allowing the publication of the book would prejudice her appeal and run counter to her rights under Article 21 of the Constitution. It was claimed that the book was a one-sided narration of events and did not even follow the trial record.
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