Monika Arora files complaint against Bloomsbury India, Twitter users over withdrawal of her book on Delhi Riots

Advocate Monika Arora has made a complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Delhi against publishing house Bloomsbury India for rescinding on its obligations to publish and distribute her book titled Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story..The complaint reads,."The present complaint seeks investigation against the above-named accused persons; namely Bloomsbury Publishing India Pvt. Ltd for the offence of criminal breach of trust, cheating, mischief, misappropriation of property under Sections 403, 405, 406, 409, 415, 420, 425, 426 of IPC, 1860."Complaint filed by Arora .In her complaint, Arora has also named Twitter users Aatish Tasser, William Dalrymple, Saket Gokhale, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, and Meena Kandasamy for having pressurized Bloomsbury India into withdrawing the book and for allegedly committing the offences under Sections 503, 505, 295A of the Indian Penal Code. .Arora has stated that pursuant to an agreement, Bloomsbury India was granted the sole and exclusive licence to reproduce copies of her book, which was provisionally titled 'Delhi Riots 2020: A Ground Story of Exploited Faultlines'..After the final text of the book was approved by Arora, the official book launch was scheduled for August 22. The invitation to the launch, along with an e-poster of the event and speakers, was sent to Bloomsbury India, which was duly acknowledged. The complaint goes on to state,."On the date of the launch, at 3:30 PM, the Publisher phoned the Author to say that it was considering withdrawing the book on account of pressure of its parent company Bloomsbury UK, and from certain other persons on social media. While the book launch event was live, a statement came to be issued by the Publisher that it had decided to withdraw the book." .As a result, Arora asserts, the book was taken down from the Amazon website, by which time it had already become the number one Bestseller in the 'Political' category. .Stating that Bloomsbury India refused to budge in spite of repeated requests, Arora has complained, ."The Publisher through deliberate and dishonest means attempted to scuttle the Author’s voice, freedom, reputation and goodwill by rescinding from its obligations on the date of the launch. The Publisher gave in to pressure and intimidating tactics of certain individuals having a despicable agenda who had not even read the contents of the book, and who did not want the book to see the light of the day or let the truth of Delhi riots be shown to the people of India."Complaint filed by Arora.Arora has further alleged that the withdrawal was a result of a "venomous campaign" on social media by group of individuals/propagandists widely known as the “Urban Naxal Gang” which included Taseer, Dalrymple, Gokhale, and others. .It is also informed that even before publication, articles were published by some media houses, namely The Quint”and NewsLaundry, critiquing the book. Further, a legal notice was sent by Nandini Sundar questioning the foreword and one chapter of the book..Asserting that an "unauthorized version" of the book has been "mischievously released" on social media to hurt her goodwill and reputation, and to subvert any future sales of the book. This was an offence under Sections 379 410, 411 of the IPC, read with Section 72 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Arora has said.."How in the world would they have got their hands on the book if not for this unauthorized circulation. As on date, there is no other physical copy in existence except for those 100 copies that had been delivered to me. Thus, despite knowing such a version was “stolen property” neither the aforesaid media houses nor Ms, Sundar chose to take any appropriate legal measures to bring it to the notice of authorities."Complaint filed by Arora.In view of the above, she has urged the Delhi Police to take immediate and necessary action against the accused persons in a prompt and effective manner..Read the Complaint:.Twitter cannot decide whether to honor a contract or not: Advocate Monika Arora on the ‘withdrawal’ of Delhi Riots 2020 by Bloomsbury India