Mumbai: In the backdrop of the Supreme Court lifting the ban on American author James Laine's controversial book on Shivaji, Maharashtra government on Monday said it will enact a new law to prevent defamation of iconic personalities.
Moving a resolution in the legislative assembly to condemn the American author for his book "Shivaji: The Hindu King in Muslim India", Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil said the new legislation, to be introduced in the next session of the House, would provide for stringent action against such authors.
Patil said the law would also cover attempts to hurt caste and religious sentiments. He said though there was an existing provision of 153(a) in the IPC to deal with the issue, Tamil Nadu had enacted a separate law.
"The Tamil Nadu state Act would be studied and a new legislation would be introduced in the next session," Patil assured the House which held a special debate on the developments since the apex court's decision to lift the ban.
The Home Minister said Oxford University Press, which published Laine's book, informed him in writing today that despite the apex court order, no fresh copies of the book would be printed.
Later, the resolution condemning the author for the book was adopted by the House unanimously.
"This is an issue of Maharashtra's pride. Shivaji Maharaj cannot be restricted to a particular religion, caste," Patil said.
Earlier, the House witnessed three adjournments due to uproar over certain remarks made by NCP legislator Jeetendra Awhad which were expunged by Deputy Speaker Madhukar Chavan.
When the House re-assembled, Awhad said he was withdrawing his remarks.
He demanded historians in Pune who had helped Laine with his research be charged with abetment.
MNS MLA Bala Nandgaonkar condemned attempts made by Awhad to bring in politics of caste in the debate.
Leader of the Opposition Eknath Khadse made a pitch for a strict legislation to prevent defamation of iconic personalities and demanded an apology from Patil asking him to own moral responsibility for the government's "failure" to "defend" Shivaji's honour in the Supreme Court.
Khadse said former Prime Minister A B Vajpayee was instrumental in renaming of Mumbai airport after Chhatrapati Shivaji and installation of a lifesize statue of the warrior king outside the airport.
Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi also demanded a law to protect the heroes and religious figures from defamation.
"Shivaji's army had significant Muslim presence and he treated all religions and communities with respect," he said and demanded to know from the government why it provided security to Salman Rushdie and Tasleema Nasreen despite their allegedly defamatory writings against Islam.
Independent MLA Anil Bonde demanded a ban on the Bhandarkar Institute for having helped Laine in his research.
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