Shuddhabrata Sengupta and Aarti Sethi have sent a legal notice on February 14 to Penguin via their advocate Lawrence Liang of the Alternative Law Forum.
In it, they said that Penguin had “effectively acknowledged that it is no longer interested in exercising” its ownership of Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History and should surrender its copyright to the Indian public because it had decided earlier this week to withdraw the book from India and destroy all copies following a legal dispute with a religious group.
The notice mimics the style of the original notice issued by Dinanath Batra that led to publisher's decision.
The petition states that its clients learnt that Penguin had withdrawn Doniger's book "pursuant to an agreement entered between YOU NOTICEE and Shri Dinanath Batra; OP Gupta, Sharvan Kumar and a few other busybody etceteras on the February 4, 2014.”
Five points the petition raises against Penguin:
1. Penguin is committing extra-judicial murder.
"While they may both be birds, there is a world of difference between a Penguin and a chicken and the last time my clients checked, the penguin had not changed his feathers in the natural world,” said the petition.
It also points out that this is not the first time Penguin has not backed its authors. In 2013, it withdrew a biography of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa.
“When the state -- traditionally the great censoring machine -- chooses to ban a book it has to provide reasons and is subject to challenge, but when Penguin chooses to kill its own books beyond the pale of the law it amounts to an extra-judicial killing of books and authors.”
2. Penguin is not a soap manufacturer.
The petition says, “YOU NOTICEE have mistakenly assumed that because you own the right to publish the manuscript it also gives you the right to abrogate the right to free speech at your convenience. If YOU NOTICEE were in the business of manufacturing soaps it would matter very little if you chose to discontinue the manufacture a particular brand of soap at your will despite a public demand for the same. However as a publisher your business is imbued with a public interest that extends beyond your private interest.”
3. Penguin has violated readers' rights.
The right to read is an acknowledged fundamental right, says the petition. “YOU NOTICEE have gravely offended and hurt the sensibilities of my client and of the community of readers for whom the universe is a library which shapes their imaginative and moral life and your actions constitute a moral injury against all readers.”
4. Submitting to threats will harm democracy.
“In a real democracy the dissenter must feel at home and ought not to be nervously looking over his shoulder fearing captivity or bodily harm or economic and social sanctions for his unconventional or critical views. By acting in the manner that you have done, YOU NOTICEE are hereby guilty of displacing dissenters from the comforts of their legal and moral home – a space that some call democracy.”
5. Penguin can still fix this.
"Accordingly, my clients demand that YOU NOTICEE rescind on the contract that you have entered into with miscellaneous busybodies and immediately commence the publication of Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History and leave the messy act of pulping to those better suited for it, namely juicers and grinders."
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In it, they said that Penguin had “effectively acknowledged that it is no longer interested in exercising” its ownership of Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History and should surrender its copyright to the Indian public because it had decided earlier this week to withdraw the book from India and destroy all copies following a legal dispute with a religious group.
The notice mimics the style of the original notice issued by Dinanath Batra that led to publisher's decision.
The petition states that its clients learnt that Penguin had withdrawn Doniger's book "pursuant to an agreement entered between YOU NOTICEE and Shri Dinanath Batra; OP Gupta, Sharvan Kumar and a few other busybody etceteras on the February 4, 2014.”
Five points the petition raises against Penguin:
1. Penguin is committing extra-judicial murder.
"While they may both be birds, there is a world of difference between a Penguin and a chicken and the last time my clients checked, the penguin had not changed his feathers in the natural world,” said the petition.
It also points out that this is not the first time Penguin has not backed its authors. In 2013, it withdrew a biography of Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa.
“When the state -- traditionally the great censoring machine -- chooses to ban a book it has to provide reasons and is subject to challenge, but when Penguin chooses to kill its own books beyond the pale of the law it amounts to an extra-judicial killing of books and authors.”
2. Penguin is not a soap manufacturer.
The petition says, “YOU NOTICEE have mistakenly assumed that because you own the right to publish the manuscript it also gives you the right to abrogate the right to free speech at your convenience. If YOU NOTICEE were in the business of manufacturing soaps it would matter very little if you chose to discontinue the manufacture a particular brand of soap at your will despite a public demand for the same. However as a publisher your business is imbued with a public interest that extends beyond your private interest.”
3. Penguin has violated readers' rights.
The right to read is an acknowledged fundamental right, says the petition. “YOU NOTICEE have gravely offended and hurt the sensibilities of my client and of the community of readers for whom the universe is a library which shapes their imaginative and moral life and your actions constitute a moral injury against all readers.”
4. Submitting to threats will harm democracy.
“In a real democracy the dissenter must feel at home and ought not to be nervously looking over his shoulder fearing captivity or bodily harm or economic and social sanctions for his unconventional or critical views. By acting in the manner that you have done, YOU NOTICEE are hereby guilty of displacing dissenters from the comforts of their legal and moral home – a space that some call democracy.”
5. Penguin can still fix this.
"Accordingly, my clients demand that YOU NOTICEE rescind on the contract that you have entered into with miscellaneous busybodies and immediately commence the publication of Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History and leave the messy act of pulping to those better suited for it, namely juicers and grinders."