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A day after Union Minister of State for Culture Maneka Gandhi won a legal battle against British writer Katherine Frank, her petition against Khushwant Singh's autobiography Truth, Love and a Little Malice was admitted by the Supreme Court, but she did not press for stay of its publication.
The petition challenging the Delhi high court's order allowing Singh to publish the book was admitted and notices issued by a bench comprising Justice U C Banerjee and Justice Y K Sabharwal after hearing Gandhi's counsel Raj Panjawani and Singh's counsel Sridhar Chitale, who had filed a caveat.
Panjawani contended that there were several "defamatory and derogatory references to her and her family" in the book, extracts of which were first published in a magazine in October 1995.
Gandhi had filed a petition in the high court in December 1995 seeking an injunction against the author and publisher from publishing the book on the grounds that the statements made in it were false and even if correct violated her right to privacy. She had also sought damages.
A single judge of the high court had granted an ex-parte order restraining the respondents from publishing the book. The ex-parte order was confirmed on April 29, 1997.
Singh appealed against the single judge's order before a division bench, which declined to vacate the stay order. But on September 18, 2001, the bench quashed the injunction granted by the single judge, holding that "well-established principles weigh in favour of the right of publication".
The high court bench said there was no question of any irreparable loss or injury being caused since the respondent herself had also claimed damages, which would be the remedy in case she was able to establish defamation.
Allowing the appeal and imposing a cost of Rs 10,000 on Gandhi, the high court bench had ordered that the suit for damages would continue uninfluenced by the observations made in their order.
In her appeal to the Supreme Court, Gandhi asked whether the high court was justified in holding that the statements attributed to her and to members of her family, even if true, did not violate her right to privacy.
PTI
EARLIER REPORTS: Maneka wins case against Indira's biographer Khushwant permitted to publish autobiography Court asks Khushwant not to write on Maneka
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