New Delhi: To protect the author’s right to freedom of speech, a lower court in Delhi lifted a nine-month-old ex parte injunction on the publication and sale of a book on the influential godman-business tycoon Baba Ramdev.

On August 4, 2017, the court of ACJ-CCJ-ARC (East district) at the Karkardooma Courts, had clamped the injunction on the publication and sale of Priyanka Pathak-Narain’s Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev, published by Juggernaut Books. The order was passed without giving the publisher and the author an opportunity to state their version of events, reportedly to avoid “the delay which would be caused during the process of serving the notice and hearing the defendants”.

On receiving a written copy of the order from the court on August 10, 2017, the publishers complied with it before challenging it at the court of JSCC-ASCJ-GJ, East District, Karkardooma Courts. On April 28, the court lifted the injunction highlighting the need to protect the right to freedom of speech of the author.

Overturning the earlier order, Jay Thareja of Delhi Judicial Service noted that the “usual course, in suits like the present suit, is to protect the right of freedom and speech guaranteed to an individual/journalist/author, as guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, unless the defense of truth, fair comment and fair reporting, pleaded by the individual/journalist/author, appears to be completely meritless.” The publishers and the author were represented in the court by lawyers Rajshekhar Rao, Satyajit Sarna and Amit Agarwal.

In a statement issued to the press, the publishing house called it “a victory for free speech”. Chiki Sarkar, the publisher of Juggernaut Books, and Simran Khara, its CEO, said in the statement, “At Juggernaut, we will always fight for our books and authors and we are delighted by this judgment. We hope, too, that it will help other publishers and writers.”

The court’s judgement has been hailed by a number of people on social media, including some authors. Well-known columnist-author Ramachandra Guha tweeted, “I trust other Indian publishers will be inspired by Juggernaut and have the courage to stand up for their authors and for artistic freedom more generally. In the past, they have too easily succumbed to thugs and bullies.”

Calling it “a great relief”, the author, Priyanka Pathak-Narain said, “Temporary injunctions can kill books and it is heartening that the judiciary has stood up for freedom of speech and of the press.”

In an interview to The Wire in July 2017, Pathak-Narain had spoken at length about the research behind her book that delineates the rise of the godman from Ram Kishan Yadav, a resident of Said Alipur, one of the poorest districts of Haryana, to a yoga evangelist and owner of the multi-crore company Patanjali Ayurveda Limited. The book also brings to light some mysterious deaths of people associated with Baba Ramdev, such as Shankar Dev, the guru of Kripalu Bagh Ashram, where Ramdev established himself, and Rajeev Dixit, who introduced Ramdev to a style of politics.

Speaking about Shankardev’s death, the author had said, “This is a mystery that can no longer be answered based on what we know. Something new or someone new must come forward to shed light. Until then, we have to be content acknowledging the existence of this mystery in the story of Baba Ramdev’s life.”

Ramdev’s petition seeking a ban on the book had termed some details related to his past as “irresponsible, false (and) malicious”.

Accusing the author of adding controversial material to enhance its sales, the petition said, “Certain content has been added without evidence and verification.” Defending the book immediately after the injunction order was passed, Juggernaut had said, “It contains a detailed 25-page note on sources that lists the interviews, articles, police reports and RTI replies that are the basis of each chapter.”

After the April 28 judgement, the publishing house has announced that the book would once again be available for sale “immediately on the Juggernaut app and in a few days on online and in physical retail stores”.