PIL filed to revoke import ban on Gandhi's assassination book
A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Bombay High Court which seeks to revoke an import ban on a book published in Portugal over five decades ago. The book, authored by Lourenco de Sadvandor and called "Who Killed Gandhi?", alleges larger conspiracy behind the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The Union government imposed an import ban on the book in December 1979.
A similar PIL had been filed with the Supreme Court
The PIL was filed by Pankaj Phadnis, a city-based researcher and trustee of right wing group Abhinav Bharat. Last year, Pankaj had approached the Supreme Court with the same issue, seeking a direction to the government to re-investigate the Gandhi's assassination case. The SC scheduled the hearing of the petition for 12th January this year.
PIL claims that the ban on the book was arbitrary
The book was published in 1963. On 29th December, 1979, the Union government issued a notice banning the import of the book, and called the book "poorly researched" and "inflammatory". The PIL, however, claims that the ban was arbitrary and violates the fundamental right to free speech and thought.
