Mah asks SC to lift the stay into the investigation of book

New Delhi, Nov 23 (UNI) The state of Maharashtra today pleaded before the Supreme Court for lifting of interim stay against the investigation into the alleged conspiracy to disturb communal harmony by making derogatory references to Maratha king Shivaji.

The Counsel for the state of Maharashtra contended that only a thorough investigation could enable the government to find out whether 115 page book titled 'Shivaji-hindu king in economic India' was part of a criminal conspiracy hatched by an American author James W Laine.

The printer and publisher of the controversial book had filed an appeal against Bombay High Court judgment dismissing their petition for quashing of the FIR. The petitioner Manzar Sayeed Khan attorney of the publisher m/s Oxford University Press India had pleaded that they had already deleted the offending portion from the book and the printer Vinod Hansraj Goyal has already tendered a written apology.

A bench comprising Justices K G Balakrishnan, Lokeshwar Singh Panta and D K Jain adjourned the hearing till next week.

The office of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune was attacked and a mob of 100 to 125 destroyed 18,000 books and 30,000 rare manuscripts after their hero Shivaji was allegedly portrayed in bad light.

The state has contended that criminal investigation cannot be dropped midway and it must be allowed to reach its logical conclusion wether the book was part of a criminal conspiracy to create a wedge between Marathas and Brahmins. The book contains 200 references.

The High court had permitted the state to investigate against the publisher and printer of the book on May 6, 2004.

The Supreme Court had granted stay against the investigation while issuing notice on the petition on May 20, 2004.

During the hearing the Court remarked ''provocation has to be resonable and not the provocation considered to be so by rowdy element.'' UNI AKS/SC PDM GC1752