Bengaluru,Nov.23: A Bengaluru court has granted an interim stay on the distribution and sale of a book on Tipu Sultan after hearing a plea which said it contained “wrong information” about the ruler of the erstwhile Mysuru Kingdom.
The court on Tuesday, November 22, issued the temporary injunction restraining the author, publisher Ayodhya Publication and printer Rashtrotthana Mudranalaya from distributing and selling the book titled Tipu Nija Kanasugalu (Real Dreams of Tipu).
It’s written by Addanda C. Cariappa, the director of Karnataka’s most coveted theatre repertoire, Rangayana, in the Kannada language.
A plea was filed by the former chairman of the District Wakf Board Committee, B.S. Rafiulla, claiming that the book contains wrong information on Tipu Sultan without any support or justification from history.
“‘Azaan’, which is the religious practice of the Muslim community, is extracted in the book wrongly in order to hurt the feelings of the Muslim community,” the plaintiff told the court.
He also submitted that the word turukaru, used in the book, is a derogatory term for the Muslim community. He contended that the publication of the book would cause unrest and communal disharmony, disturbing the public peace at large.
However, the author has claimed that the play is based on “true history” and what is written in history books and is taught through school textbooks is false.
The court after perusing the book containing the play said, “The reading of the foreword and the preface of the book shows that the writer of the foreword and the author of the play in the preface claim that it is based on truth and precision of the history… It is also claimed that it is based on research and is published with an intention to unveil the true nature of Tipu Sultan.”
