Delhi HC reinstates injunction on Baba Ramdev book; publisher Juggernaut plans Supreme Court appeal

After a Delhi High Court order passed on 29 September 2018 reaffirmed an earlier injunction on the publication, distribution and sale of an unauthorised biography of Baba Ramdev, publishing house Juggernaut Books has said it will move the Supreme Court to appeal this ruling.

Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev, authored by Priyanka Pathak-Narain and published by Juggernaut Books in July 2017, originally faced an injunction in August that year, from a Delhi court. The ex-parte order (hearings or orders granted on the request of and for the benefit of one party only, usually of a temporary nature) restrained the publishing and sale of the book. Juggernaut contested the ruling and won a reprieve when an appellate court vacated the previous order in April 2018, and lifted the injunction against the book.

However, this latest ruling by the Delhi High Court once again puts the injunction against Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev back in place, unless Juggernaut deletes certain sections of the book.

“We will comply with the order of the High Court by not publishing, distributing or selling the book at all, as we do not want to do so in a truncated form. As the matter is sub judice, we would prefer not to comment on the merits of the case. However, we stand by our book and will be approaching the Supreme Court,” a statement from Juggernaut read.

Juggernaut Books publisher Chiki Sarkar later tweeted:

We’ve lost the ramdev case in high court but we are going to take it up to supreme https://t.co/uXV9IKpsou

— Chiki Sarkar (@Chikisarkar) October 3, 2018

When the first injunction against Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev was issued in August 2017, Juggernaut issued a statement describing the book as “a work of serious journalism", adding that it “was the product of over 50 interviews, many of them taped, with key players in Baba Ramdev’s life, including with Ramdev himself and close aides and family members”.

The book contains “a detailed 25-page note on sources that lists the interviews, articles, police reports and RTI replies that are the basis of each chapter”, the statement from Juggernaut had said.

Prior to publication the manuscript was submitted for a legal read and vetted by an expert, and the author’s taped interviews were also submitted to and authenticated by a forensic laboratory, Juggernaut claimed.

Publisher Chiki Sarkar had said at the time of the April ruling: “We will always fight for our books and authors… We hope that it will help other publishers and writers.”

A full copy of the Delhi High Court’s order is available here .

A brief timeline of the case:

4 August 2017 — Trial court restrains Juggernaut Books from the publication and sale of Godman to Tycoon (launched in July 2017). The order is passed ex-parte.

28 April 2018 — Appellate Court lifts the ex-parte interim injunction on the publication and sale of the book.

10 May 2018 — Justice RK Gauba of the Delhi High Court restores an injunction on the publication and sale of Godman to Tycoon: The Untold Story of Baba Ramdev.

29 September 2018 — Delhi High Court reaffirms trial court’s injunction on the publication, distribution and sale of Godman to Tycoon. Juggernaut restrained from publishing book until certain sections are deleted.

— With inputs from Indo-Asian News Service