Penguin Books India has decided to withdraw all copies of a book on Hinduism by US Indologist Wendy Doniger following an out-of-court settlement with the petitioners who had claimed that it "intentionally hurt religious sentiments of millions of Hindus".
The publisher has informed a Delhi court, which was hearing a case filed against it, that it would recall and destroy all copies of "The Hindus: An Alternative History".
Penguin India Books Pvt Ltd also said that it has settled the matter out of court with the petitioners and agreed to pull off all copies from market.
The court after recording the statement of the publisher and the petitioners disposed of the case.
"In view of the aforesaid agreement, the plaintiffs (Dina Nath Batra, O P Gupta, Sharvan Kumar, Samley Prasad, Mahesh Chander Sharma and Satish Chand Mittal) are allowed to withdraw the present suit and the parties (Wendy Doniger, Penguin Group (USA) Inc. & Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd.) shall remain bound by the terms and conditions of the agreement.
"Accordingly the application is allowed and present suit is dismissed as withdrawn," Additional District Judge Balwant Rai Bansal said.
Members of civil society and various others had moved the court seeking permanent injunction restraining the publishers from sale and circulation of the book with objectionable passages.
The petition, filed through advocate Monika Arora, said "the book is a shallow, distorted false and non-serious presentation of Hinduism which contains highly objectionable passages regarding father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi, youth icon Swami Vivekananda, Hero of the first war of independence Mangal Pandey and freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi".
One of the petitioners, 81-year-old Batra who is also the convener of Shiksha Bachao Andolan, had said, "The author and publisher of the book have intentionally hurt the religious and national sentiments of millions of Hindus and Indians.
