The New York Times and the Financial Times report that in India, the publisher Penguin India (an affiliate of US publisher Penguin Random House) has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought against it by a Hindu activist group by withdrawing all unsold copies of The Hindus: An Alternative History. The book, authored by University of Chicago Professor Wendy Doniger and published in 2009, was criticized by a reviewer as over-eroticizing the religion. In 2010, Dina Nath Batra, the head of Shiksha Bacho Andolan (Save Education Movement), filed a lengthy notice (full text) with the author detailing passages he found to be "shallow," "distorted" and "riddled with heresies and factual inaccuracies." The notice threatened legal action under Section 153, 153A, 295A, 298, 505(2) of Indian Penal Code. These provisions, among other things, bar insulting religious beliefs and promoting ill-will between religious groups. A lawsuit was filed in 2011, and apparently complaints were also filed with prosecutors.
Under the settlement (full text), Penguin will "recall and withdraw all copies of the book" and no longer "sell, publish or distribute" it. The recalled copies will be "pulped" by Penguin. In exchange, plaintiffs will withdraw all "civil and criminal cases/ complaints." Currently the book remains listed on Penguin India's website. Apparently the book will remain available in India on Kindle. In a statement reacting to developments, Prof. Doniger criticized "Indian law, which makes it a criminal rather than civil offence to publish a book that offends any Hindu, a law that jeopardises the physical safety of any publisher, no matter how ludicrous the accusation."
