On August 4, the Karkardooma District Courts in Delhi restrained Juggernaut Books from publication and sale of ‘Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story’ of Baba Ramdev, written by senior journalist Priyanka Pathak-Narain, reported The Wire.
The court’s order says that the facts mentioned in the book are false and tends to malign the reputation of Baba Ramdev.
As per the company, the order was passed “ex-parte” which means without hearing the publisher or author in order to prevent a delay which would be caused during the process of serving the notice and hearing the accused.
Baba Ramdev Places Injunction Against Godman to Tycoon: https://t.co/3VZgd69TuJ pic.twitter.com/FGupgS2Lol
— Juggernaut Books (@juggernautbooks) August 11, 2017
The order prevents the publisher of the Books, the author, and also the printer, Amazon and Flipkart, from selling the book.
Juggernaut books, the publisher of the book said, “In this case, the allegation of defamation must certainly be heard in the courts and we welcome the chance to defend our book. ‘Godman to Tycoon’ is a work of serious journalism.”
“It is the product of over fifty interviews, many of them taped, with key players in Baba Ramdev’s life, including with Ramdev himself and close aides and family members.”
“As the matter is sub judice, we cannot comment on the merits of the case. However, we stand by our book, will defend the case and will move the court to vacate the injunction,” reported News Minute.
Well, many personalities on Twitter criticised the Delhi Court’s order
As we defend #FreedomOfThePress we need to defend Freedom of Book Publishers in India too! https://t.co/kPO2XsQLWO
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 11, 2017
Shri @arunjaitley once compared Baba Ramdev to Mahatma Gandhi. Would Gandhi have ever intimidated writers and publishers seeking the truth?
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 11, 2017
So Ramdev wants to block a serious piece of work on his life and enterprise. So much fear of scrutiny, and a narrative beyond PR machine https://t.co/QkipqHDhUa
— Prashant Jha (@prashantktm) August 11, 2017
How/why did the Karkardooma District Courts in Delhi place an injunction on “Godman to Tycoon” without even hearing author or publisher?
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) August 11, 2017
The mind rebels from twinning Ramdev with Streisand, but – same effect. This won’t stand in law, book will fly. Good luck @juggernautbooks https://t.co/zp11x649f7
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) August 11, 2017