Doniger's The Hindus: Penguin blames Indian law for removal

NEW DELHI: Penguin India publishing house says it did its best to defend an American author's religious history against objections from a conservative Hindu group but was forced by "intolerant and restrictive" Indian laws to remove the book from sale.

The publisher's decision this week to pull and pulp all copies of historian Wendy Doniger's "The Hindus: An Alternative History" shocked writers and intellectuals in India.

Doniger has defended Penguin India in a statement, saying the publisher had fought for four years against a lawsuit by the Hindu group, which objected to the book's describing certain Hindu myths as fiction.

Penguin India said in a statement released Friday that it was obliged "to respect the laws of the land ... however intolerant and restrictive those laws may be."

Penguin's complete statement

Penguin Books India believes, and has always believed, in every individual's right to freedom of thought and expression, a right explicitly codified in the Indian Constitution. This commitment informs Penguin's approach to publishing in every territory of the world, and we have never been shy about testing that commitment in court when appropriate. At the same time, a publishing company has the same obligation as any other organisation to respect the laws of the land in which it operates, however intolerant and restrictive those laws may be. We also have a moral responsibility to protect our employees against threats and harassment where we can.

The settlement reached this week brings to a close a four year legal process in which Penguin has defended the publication of the Indian edition of The Hindus by Wendy Doniger. We have published, in succession, hardcover, paperback and e-book editions of the title. International editions of the book remain available physically and digitally to Indian readers who still wish to purchase it.

We stand by our original decision to publish The Hindus, just as we stand by the decision to publish other books that we know may cause offence to some segments of our readership. We believe, however, that the Indian Penal Code, and in particular section 295A of that code, will make it increasingly difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression without deliberately placing itself outside the law.

This is, we believe, an issue of great significance not just for the protection of creative freedoms in India but also for the defence of fundamental human rights.