Chennai: Madras high court on Wednesday closed a suo motu plea initiated against a publisher who sought to publish a book containing defamatory and scandalous remarks against Justice G R Swaminathan.The first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan closed it after a report filed by Saidapet police said the book scheduled to be launched and sold at Chennai book fair on Jan 8 was revoked due to an objection from the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI).“We conducted a search in the stall allotted to Keezhaikaatru Publishers in the book fair. But no objectionable books with a caricature of the judge, including pictorial representation, were found in the stall or in any electronic devices,” the inspector said.Keezhaikaatru Publishers stated that upon receiving an objection from BAPASI on Jan 3, they posted a social media post stating that they would stop selling all the books, including pictorial representation, relating to this issue.Further, they categorically assured that no such book was published, sold, or displayed at the book fair, including in any electronic device, and that they deleted all posts on social media in connection with the publication of the book, he added.Recording the submissions, the bench closed the suo motu contempt petition initiated against the publisher on Jan 7. The court initiated the suo motu proceeding based on an urgent plea moved by advocate P Naveen Prasad, who alleged that the book, directed against Justice Swaminathan for his judgment in the Thirupparankundram issue, was scandalous, abusive, and derogatory.
