Archive of South Asia Citizens Wire | feeds from sacw.net | @sacw
Home > Special Dossiers / Compilations > In Defence of Freedom of Expression, Public Space in / on South (...) > ’I am glad that, in the age of the Internet, it is no longer possible to (...)

’I am glad that, in the age of the Internet, it is no longer possible to suppress a book’ -Text of statement issued by Wendy Doniger - 11 Feb 2014

by sacw.net, 11 February 2014

print version of this article print version

I was thrilled and moved by the great number of messages of support that I received, not merely from friends and colleagues but from people in India that I have never met, who had read and loved The Hindus, and by news and media people, all of whom expressed their outrage and sadness and their wish to help me in any way they could. I was, of course, angry and disappointed to see this happen, and I am deeply troubled by what it foretells for free speech in India in the present, and steadily worsening, political climate.

[. . .]

They were finally defeated by the true villain of this piece—the Indian law that makes it a criminal rather than civil offense to publish a book that offends any Hindu, a law that jeopardizes the physical safety of any publisher, no matter how ludicrous the accusation brought against a book.
[. . .].

READ FULL TEXT OF STATEMENT HERE

Public Statement From Wendy Doniger Following Withdrawal of her Book By The Publisher
11 February 2014 [PDF]

[ SEE ALSO: The Agreement between Dinanath Batra & others and Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd. http://tinyurl.com/ldk6d7s ]