Additional District Judge Vineeta Goyal rejected the law suit which had sought deletion of portions from Pranab Mukherjee’s book ‘Turbulent Years 1980- 1996′.
The court had
earlier asked the complainant to explain how can the President of India, who has immunity under the Constitution from legal proceedings, be dragged in a lawsuit.
A group of lawyers and a social worker had filed the law suit against Mukherjee seeking deletions of portions from his book making a reference to the demolition of the Babri Masjid allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments.
Earlier during the proceedings, the plaintiffs’ advocates had claimed that a civil suit can be filed against the President during his tenure in respect of any act done by him in his “personal capacity”.
“We are not saying anything against the President of India. We are concerned with the author of the book who is Pranab Mukherjee. How can he write such things in his personal capacity where sentiments of lakhs and crores of people are concerned,” advocates Hari Shankar Jain and Vishnu Shankar Jain had said.
President’s counsel Ruby Gautam Singh, however, had opposed the plea, saying that it was not maintainable.
PTI