New Delhi: An appeal against a ban on publication and sale of a book on Yoga guru Ramdev, titled ‘Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev’ will be heard by the Supreme Court on July 23.
Publisher M/s Juggernaut Books has appealed against the Delhi High Court order in May whereby the ban on publication of the book was reinstated.
Ramdev has claimed that the book is “extremely defamatory”, and “infringed his right to privacy”.
The counsel for the publisher mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice of India on Wednesday.
“List the matter on July 23, 2018, subject to curing of defects, before the appropriate bench as per the roster,” ordered the CJI.
Ramdev has already filed a caveat in this matter in order to make sure no order is passed by the apex court without hearing his lawyers. His lawyer was also present when the publisher's counsel showed up before the CJI.
The book, authored by Priyanka Pathak Narain, was published in July 2017 but on a complaint by Ramdev, a Delhi civil court prohibited the publication and sale on August 4, 2017.
It had also restrained M/s Amazon India and M/s Flipkart Internet Pvt Ltd from selling the book online and said any pending delivery of the book be stopped immediately.
However, in April this year, the Delhi court revoked the ban on the book.
This prompted Ramdev to move the Delhi High Court in an appeal where his counsel argued that the publisher and the author cannot be allowed to circulate defamatory and personal material about him.
On his part, the publisher submitted that the extracts of the book were already in public domain since 2007 and Ramdev never raised any objection. It said the entire record of the trial court has not been placed before the high court.
Issuing an interim order, the high court stayed the civil court order, thereby restoring the ban on publication and sale of the book.
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