‘Referred to War and Peace by Biswajit Roy, not Tolstoy,’ says Bombay HC judge

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday expressed anguish at the “misinterpretation of the book title” seized from activist Vernon Gonsalves’s house, during the hearing on his bail application on Wednesday.

The court of justice Sarang Kotwal was unhappy with the conclusion that it had raised questions over the presence of the book, War and Peace, construed to be the one written by Leo Tolstoy, stating it was questioning the possession of another title by the same name written by Biswajit Roy. The judge said he was anguished that “the name of the institution [Bombay high court] was spoiled”. All parties present for the bail application supported the bench in condemning the “misrepresentation”.

Kotwal clarified that he had not said the material recovered from Gonsalves’s home was incriminating, but had only asked Desai to explain why the books with the said titles were in his possession.

In a statement before the hearing began, advocate Yug Choudhary, appearing for one of the bail applicants, said, “At no time did your Lordship ever mention Leo Tolstoy. The book referred to was War and Peace in Junglemahal, a book by Biswajit Roy.”

Senior advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for Gonsalves, continued arguments stating there were around 2,000 books and numerous CDs recovered from Gonsalves’s home and unless the state pointed to the objectionable matter, he would not be in a position to justify it.

He further submitted that although the material recovered from Gonsalves’s house may have been scandalous, till it was proved that he was undertaking or was involved in activities promoted in the book, he could not be incriminated and charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

Responding to the court’s question on Wednesday as to why his client was in possession of books with scandalous titles, Desai cited the Supreme Court judgment in Muthuswamy case, which upheld the fact that what a person does in the privacy of his house is not anyone’s case. Desai inferred that till the intention was not proved, the investigators had nothing against Gonsalves.

After hearing the submissions, the bench asked whether Desai was trying to prove that the evidence submitted by investigators was inconclusive. Desai responded in the affirmative, saying that as none of the books seized are banned under Section 95 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), they are not sufficient to incriminate the accused.

The court will now hear bail applications of two other activists Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bharadwaj.