The NM Joshi Marg police station on January 20 informed the Bombay High Court that “they did not find any reason to prosecute the author and there is nothing offensive in the said book.”
Murzban Shroff, 48, author of Breathless in Bombay, can
finally breathe easy. Last year, a criminal complaint was filed alleging that the use of a word ‘ghaati’ in the book was used intentionally to create communal disharmony and incite feelings of hatred. The Mumbai Police has now closed the criminal case against him.
The NM Joshi Marg police station on January 20 informed the Bombay High Court that “they did not find any reason to prosecute the author and there is nothing offensive in the said book.”
The court was also informed that a ‘c’ summary report has already been submitted in the magistrate’s court in order to close the case against the author.
Taking the submissions made by additional public prosecutor Madhvi Mhatre, Justice SC Dharmadhikari disposed off Shroff’s application seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him.
Earlier, while hearing Shroff’s application, the HC had observed that “He is an author and not a trouble maker” and had directed the police to investigate the case accordingly.
Police had also sent a letter to Shroff’s counsel Mihir Desai, informing the later that they are willing to close the case against his client.
“Police had also ruled that the book gives a unifying message and no objectionable material has been found in it. The case will now come up for hearing in magistrate’s court by the end of this month, where the magistrate is expected to pass the final order,” Shroff told DNA.
Activist Vijay Murdas had filed an FIR against Shroff in February, 2009. The complainant objected to certain dialogues in Breathless in Bombay. The book includes 14 short stories. Short story, House of Mine, uses the word ‘ghaati’.
On Murdas’ complaint, NM Joshi Marg police had registered a case under section 153(b) of the IPC against Shroff. Murdas had also sought that all copies of the book should be seized. Murdas had alleged that the book could foment communal disharmony, feelings of hatred and ill will in society.
A magistrate’s court had ordered probe in the case following Murdas’ complaint in February, 2009. Shroff had moved HC in September, 2009 seeking quashing of the case.
Earlier this month, the Writers of Prison Committee of International PEN, a global association of writers with members spread in about 104 countries, had sent a letter to the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi and also to the highest authorities in Maharashtra, recommending that criminal charges against Shroff should be dropped.
Besides, getting support from fellow writers, Breathless in Bombay was also shortlisted for the 2009 Commonwealth Writer’s Prize in the best first book category from Europe and South Asia.
The fact that the book has also been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, the highest award for short stories in the United States, is proof of its integrity. It has also been nominated for the John Gilgun Fiction award.
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