CHANDIGARH: The Chandigarh district court on Thursday allowed the release of the book titled “God of Sin: The Cult, Clout and Downfall of Asaram Bapu”, while dismissing an application moved by followers of Asaram seeking permanent injunction against it. During the previous hearing, the publisher had assured court that the book won’t be released till December 13, even though it had earlier scheduled it to be released on December 9.During the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, the counsel for publisher, Penguin Books India Limited, Surjeet Bhadu, argued that the petitioner had no idea about the content of the book. It was also argued that pre-publish restrain cannot be pressed till the author stands by the content of the book.The court was told that the author had done thorough investigation in the matter before writing the book for which he had collected the information from media reports, interviews of the persons involved, including police officers. It was also argued that fair comment and statement based on facts cannot be restrained. “There is so much of information available on public domain on Asaram, if that is not restrained then this book should also not be restrained,” the court was told.It was also pointed out that the followers of Asaram had moved the Supreme Court earlier for restraining media from covering the issue. The apex court had dismissed the plea.Advocate Bhadu stated in the court that in the matter of Asaram, only one witness had moved the Supreme Court seeking protection, whereby on December 5, the apex court directed all the states to formulate ‘Witness Protection Policy’.Earlier, counsel for Bapu Asaram Trust, advocate Aalok Jagga, had argued that the appeal of the preacher was still pending with the Rajasthan high court and the book not only defamed him but also would adversely affect the free and fair hearing there.Sant Shri Asharamji Ashram; Bhagat Kutir Samiti (regd); Bal Krishan Vishavkarma, resident of Sector-16-A of Chandigarh; and Manoj Kumar, resident of Sector-49 of Chandigarh, had moved a civil suit against the author Ushinor Majumdar, publisher Penguin Books, e-tailers Amazon India and Flipkart. They had sought permanent injunction, restraining the publishing, releasing and selling the book.It was argued that they did not have any right to publish, release and sell the book, as it defamed Asharam Bapu and his son Narayan Sai. It also said that the book should not be released at least till their appeal in court was pending.

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