The Bombay High Court has stayed a special TADA court order banning the sale of a book on Abu Salem, 'My Name is Abu Salem' by journalist-author S Hussain Zaidi.
The special court had last week ordered the publisher Penguin to withdraw all unsold copies of the 22,000 currently in circulation till Salem's trial in a murder case was over. Zaidi challenged the order in the HC, after which Justice ML Tahaliyani on Friday granted a stay and adjourned the case for January 16.
Zaidi's main contention in his HC petition was that there is no provision in the special Terrorists and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act under which accused Salem could have filed such an application against the book.
Gangster Salem, one of the accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, had filed an application in the special TADA court last month seeking a ban on the book - released two weeks ago - saying he never spoke to Zaidi.
One of Salem's primary objections is related to chapter eight of the book, which talks about the murder of builder Pradeep Jain in 1995. Salem is the prime accused, and a judgment in the trial being heard by the TADA court is expected.
Earlier, Special TADA judge GA Sanap had also refused the request of the publishers to stay the order for two weeks to allow them time to approach the high court. "The timing of the book's release is extremely wrong. The author has overstepped his authority.
They should have taken permission of the court before doing this. The book is restrained from release till further orders. It should not be available in stores and e-portals and not be seen on any display in India," the TADA judge had said.
The judge had also objected to the fact that witnesses, whose names were not given out for their own safety, were named in the book. "You have named witnesses and commented on the evidence of witnesses recorded by the court," the judge had said.