http://www.change.org/petitions/members-of-both-houses-of-the-indian-parliament-and-the-honorable-law-minister-government-of-india-reconsider-and-revise-sections-153-a-and-295-a-of-the-indian-penal-code-to-protect-freedom-of-expression-in-india?share_id=DPiWXJmjnH&utm_campaign=friend_inviter_chat&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=permissions_dialog_true
1.
1.
Petition by
Ananya Vajpeyi <http://www.change.org/users/20485329>
New Delhi, India
We the undersigned are appalled by the recent settlement reached between
Dina Nath Batra for the Shiksha Bachao Andolan and Penguin Books India, to
cease the publication of Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History
(Penguin USA 2009; Penguin India 2010), and to withdraw and destroy
remaining copies of the book on Indian territory.
This case is only the latest in a long series of outrages against freedom
of expression. Academic, intellectual and artistic expression of any kind
is becoming increasingly hazardous in India. What has happened to Professor
Doniger and many other scholars before her can happen to any one of us at
any time. Indian laws and legislation governing the freedom of expression
not only fail to protect us from harassment and intimidation, but in fact
prevent us from doing our work in a respectful, fair and democratic
environment.
More worrying, the laws dealing with insult and injury to the sentiments of
groups and communities (organized around religion, caste or any other form
of identity) are routinely used to curb the freedom of expression, both
within the legal justice system and in public discourse more generally.
In our view, the way to respond to ideas one dislikes is not to censor them
but to produce better ones. Such was the practice of India's great
intellectual traditions in the past. Litigation like this, undertaken in
the name of defending those traditions, in fact profoundly demeans them.
We make the following demands:
1. That there be a reform of Sections 153A and 295A of the Indian Penal
Code--governing intellectual and artistic freedoms and the right to
self-expression, as well as protecting against insult and injury to
communities, and the incitement of communal hatred. We ask that lawmakers,
jurists and the legal bureaucracy include necessary provisions in these
laws to protect works of serious academic and artistic merit from
motivated, malicious and frivolous litigation.
2. That Penguin Random House at the highest levels of management and
decision-making continue to contest the Legal Demand # 254/LN/0310 up to
the higher courts, so that a good precedent upholding freedom of expression
is established, and in future publishing houses, including Penguin India,
are able to publish works and support their authors without the threatening
prospect of litigation, fear and censure.
We believe that writers, scholars, artists, and publishers the world over
will stand in solidarity with the author Wendy Doniger. To endorse our
demands, append your signature to this statement. We intend to send our
petition along with all the signatures collected to the appropriate
authorities in the Government of India.
Ananya Vajpeyi, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi
Sheldon Pollock, Columbia University, New York
Partha Chatterjee, Columbia University, New York
Laurie Patton, Duke University, North Carolina
Romila Thapar, Jawaharlal Nehru University (Retd.), New Delhi
David Shulman, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
To:
Members of both houses of the Indian Parliament, and the Honorable Law
Minister, Government of India, Law Minister, Government of India
Reconsider and revise Sections 153 (A) and 295 (A) of the Indian Penal Code
to protect freedom of expression in India!
Sincerely,
[Your name]
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