In a surprising denouement, the Supreme Court bench of Justices S. A. Bobde and L. Nageswara Rao, on Wednesday, dismissed Mate Mahadevi’s appeal against the ban on the sale and circulation of her book, Basava Vachana Deepthi, without a reasoned order.

“We are deliberately not giving a reasoned order,” said the bench, while abruptly concluding the hearing of the case this afternoon.

Today, the bench heard senior counsel, Basava Prabhu S. Patil, representing the state of Karnataka, the respondent and the advocate representing Mate Mahadevi, Naveen R. Nath.

Patil, while explaining the interplay between Sections 95 and 96 of the CrPC, told the bench that the intention of the author has to be inferred from the nature of publication. He said that it is fallacious to mathematically equate Sections 95 and 96 of CrPC with Section 295A Indian Penal Code.