NEW DELHI: A SC Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra expounded that,”Craftsmanship of a writer deserves to be respected, seeking to ban the book ‘Meesha’ for allegedly depicting Hindu women visiting temples in derogatory light, saying the Top court said craftsmanship of a writer deserves to be respected”.
The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud stated that,”A book must not read in “fragmented manner” but as a whole, Subjective perception about a book should not be allowed to enter legal arena with regard to censorship. The bench also said that the writer should be allowed to play with words like a painter who plays with colour.
A particular conversation between two characters in the novel was picked out and circulated on social media, claiming that the novel was anti-Hindu.
Although DC books, a leading publishing house in Kerala, published Harish’s novel and made the copies available in stores and online last month. Meesha, the serialised novel by Kerala writer S Hareesh which was withdrawn from a leading Malayalam weekly after protests by Hindutva outfits, has been published by DC Books. It is available in bookstores across the State. Ravi Deecee, CEO of DC Books, confirmed the move, affirming that the publisher always stood with its readers and its writers.
