Ex-IHM principal R K Saxena accuses Jashn-e-Oudh author of plagiarism; chef Ranveer Brar condems the act

In January this year, Raj Kumar Saxena, former principal of Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Lucknow and Mumbai, heard about Jashn-E-Oudh: Romance of the Cuisine authored by chef Sunil Soni, published in December 2015. Having co-authored a book on the same cuisine with Sangeeta Bhatnagar, Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh: The Cuisine of Awadh, 20 years ago, he was curious and purchased a copy online. Dastarkhwan-e-Awadh saw two more print runs in 2006 and 2015. When reading Soni's book, he realised that "Soni has copied 42 recipes, 24 explanatory notes of recipes and 12 chapters notes verbatim from our book. That's when I also asked Sangeeta to take a look”.

They then contacted their publisher HarperCollins. “We showed the editor, Bidisha Srivastava, how our book has been copied left, right and centre. She said she would consult their legal cell and tell us what has to be done,” says Saxena. Even regarding outing chef Soni on social media, Srivastava asked them to wait for the legal cell's advice.

Following this, on February 17, 2017 HarperCollins Publishers India Ltd sent a Cease and Desist notice to Soni's Kenya address as he had been working at Watamu's Temple Point Restaurant as an executive chef. A copy of the notice was also sent to Soni's publisher Shubhi Publications and is now available with DNA too.

In the three-page notice, international law firm Sen-Oberoi, representing HarperCollins, informs Soni that their clients hold exclusive rights and licence to print, reprint and sell the work throughout the world and they along with the authors have expended huge amounts of skill, labour and effort for the literary and artistic work.

Pointing out the copyright infringement, the notice adds, “...you have copied many chapters including recipes, utensils used in Awadhi cuisine, ingredients, etc. from our book...The publication you launched causes grave concern to our clients as various sections of our book have been carried verbatim, which is clear infringement of copyright; it is clear that by publishing such a book you are trying to piggyback on the success of our clients' publication...”

The notice informs Soni and his publisher that HarperCollins is extremely vigilant in protection of its rights and have successfully taken legal action against similar violations in the past. But while they are not averse to taking legal action in this case too, the notice gives him the option of resolving the matter amicably by removing the infringing material from the book and all the publications, addressing an undertaking to HarperCollins acknowledging their ownership over the work, agreeing to refrain from future unauthorised use of their work, and paying a token amount of Rs. 5,00,000 as damages for infringing the copyright in literary work.

While the Kenya address received the notice, there was no response from Soni. The notice returned from publishers' address and was resent to their new office in Gurgaon by HarperCollins' legal cell. “When I contacted some people to put their pictures for my blog, I was told that Soni was now working in India,” says Saxena, who immediately sent a mail with the new development to HarperCollins on April 1, 2017.

When Saxena followed up on April 10, Srivastava reverted saying, “We discussed this in house. The copyright is definitely in your favour. You are free to litigate this matter and file a suit for injunction. As far as shaming the authors/publisher on social media is concerned, as a publisher, we cannot opine on that. It is your personal decision to take. We regret to inform you that currently HCI has put on hold all litigations due to some business-related issues”.

On consulting his lawyer, Saxena posted about the matter on his blog rajkumarsaxena.blogspot.in on April 25 saying, “This is how it works for fly-by-night experts to exploit shamelessly our hard researched and published work of many years and become celebrity author overnight...They also know the right time to strike. Ethnic Indian regional cuisine is in vogue currently. The case in point is chef Sunil Soni from Kenya  (now Corporate Chef with Clarks Inn Group of Hotels, Delhi).

"We in academics have a saying in Hindi that `Nakal ke liye bhi akal chaahiye'. Here is a case of an internationally travelled and learned person who has no qualms about unhesitatingly lifting up word-by-word the explanations, recipes etc. from book authored by us and claiming it to be his original work as a result of an extensive research”.

Saxena also goes on to line out the manner in which it was done and mentions the launch by Dr. Karan Singh, Ex-Governor J&K and Central Tourism & Civil  Aviation Minister, and Foreward by chef Ranveer Brar.

In response to the posts on Facebook and Twitter, Saxena says his friends approached Brar, who was also once a student of IHM, about why he's keeping quiet. And on Thursday morning, Brar made his stand clear on Facebook (facebook.com/FoodFables/) saying, "Sangeeta Bhatnagar is a good friend and Raj Kumar Saxena is a mentor and a teacher and I always maintain that #dastarkhwaaneawadh is the best book written on Lucknow cuisine. Sunil Soni was one of my contemporaries in Boston and asked for a Foreword for a book on Lucknow cuisine that he was writing since I was from Lucknow . In GOOD FAITH and camaraderie I wrote a recommendation and I must say that I am very sad and hurt for doing so. I strongly condemn Sunil for this act and have emailed him to remove the Foreword with immediate effect. My solidarity is and will always be with Institute of Hotel Management, Lucknow and Raj Kumar Saxena".

When contacted Brar reiterated that "It's (plagiarism) not something that I stand for. I have publicly condemned Soni on Facebook and asked him remove the Foreword with immediate effect. Usually Forewards are written over excerpts in good faith. But it has to change...at least in my case".

Meanwhile, when asked for his side of the story, over a telephonic interview, chef Soni said, "I haven't seen his (Saxena and Bhatnagar's) books yet, I don't know..." and when probed about the hulabuloo on social media, he added, "That is okay, woh toh chal raha hoga, but first I'll have to see the books, aur fir dekhenge".

Regarding Brar's request to remove the Foreward, Soni says, "Maine usko book bheji thi, tabhi toh usne Foreward kari na. How we can remove that na? I had sent it to him by email". But when asked to share the mail that he had sent to Brar with the copy of his book, Soni said, "I will speak to Ranveer and then see".

On social media, people have appreciated Brar's stand and quick response in condemning this act of alleged plagiarism; Saxena too believes that Brar and Singh would have done what they did in good faith. Saxena and Bhatnagar are now preparing to file a lawsuit against Soni.