Ahmedabad: A court in Ahmedabad has dismissed a petition seeking a ban on the sale of a Gujarati book titled, ‘Fekuji Have Dilli Ma’ (Fekuji is now in Delhi) in which author Jayesh Shah, a Congress leader, has allegedly mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Civil court judge AM Dave cited Article 19 of the Constitution and dismissed the petition on Monday, holding that banning the book would violate the fundamental right of freedom of expression.
The book dwells on a list of promises made by PM Modi during his campaign for 2014 Lok Sabha polls and claims that he has failed to deliver on them.
The petition demanding ban on the book was filed by a social worker Narsinhbhai Solanki, who contended that the book is meant to “defame” PM Modi.
Mr Solanki alleged that the contents and the title of the book are defamatory and derogatory in nature and they would spoil the image of the Prime Minister.
According to Mr Solanki, PM Modi came to power just two years back, a time-frame too short to fulfill all the promises he made during the poll campaign.
Mr Solanki sought the court’s intervention to put an immediate ban on the sale of the book, which is in the market since last few months.
However, not convinced with the arguments of Mr Solanki, the judge said that India is a democracy and people have all the right to express their personal views through a book. The court held that banning the book would violate the right of freedom of expression.