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No SC relief for historian who
wrote blasphemies about Sikh Guru
WSN Network
New Delhi:
Former UGC chairman Prof Satish Chandra and NCERT officials could
face arrest as the Supreme Court on Friday refused to quash an FIR
against them for authoring and publishing a history textbook with
alleged objectionable references to religious icons. The court also
declined to grant protection from arrest.
The FIR cited
objectionable references to the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Teg Bahadur,
Bhagat Namdev, Shivaji and Tulsidas in the Class XI NCERT history
textbook, which was withdrawn in April 2006. NCERT had earlier
approached Allahabad HC, which on August 11 granted stay of arrest
till filing of chargesheet, but refused to quash the FIR.
The FIR against
former UGC chairman Prof Satish Chandra and NCERT officials was
filed under Sections 153-A&B (promoting enmity between different
groups, imputations prejudicial to national integration), 295
(insulting religion), 298 (wound religious feelings of any person)
among others. Refusing to accept counsel Prashant Bhushan’s request
for protection from arrest, the bench comprising Chief Justice K G
Balakrishnan and Justices P Sathasivam and Deepak Verma said, ‘‘Law
provides for sufficient protection. We cannot quash the FIR at this
stage.’’
Bhushan argued
that the textbook was in circulation since 1978 till it was finally
withdrawn in April 2006. The FIR was registered in September 2006 by
when a new textbook was already in place.
11
November 2009
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