The Supreme Court has banned the controversial book of NCERT. The court has prima facie considered the things written in this class 8 book about the judiciary as criminal contempt. A bench of 3 judges headed by the Chief Justice has issued a show cause notice to the Secretary of the Department of School Education and the Director of NCERT in this regard.
In NCERT’s social science book Exploring Society: India and Beyond, chapter – The Role of Judiciary in our Society, corruption in the judiciary and pendency of cases was discussed. Judges and lawyers across the country had expressed concern over the way this chapter was written, its content and the inculcation of such things in the minds of underage children. In view of this, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant had taken suo motu cognizance of the matter. He posted the case for hearing on Thursday, 26 February in a bench of three judges headed by him. The other two members of the bench were Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi.
Even before the hearing of the case, NCERT issued a press release. Expressing regret over its mistake, NCERT said it would withdraw the book. As soon as the hearing started in the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta informed this to the bench, but the judge was not satisfied with it. The Chief Justice said that before taking cognizance of the matter, he had asked the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to get information about the matter. The Secretary General wrote a letter to the Director of NCERT. In response, the director justified the disputed chapter.
Chief Justice said, ‘The steps taken now by NCERT are inadequate. It seems clear that the controversial part in the book was kept after careful consideration. We want to know who are the people behind this. This hearing will not be stopped now. After this he said, ‘It is wrong to convey negative things to young children. After children, it will reach teachers, parents and the entire society.
The court made it clear that it is a supporter of healthy criticism, but things said with wrong intentions cannot be allowed to damage the reputation of the judiciary. The Chief Justice said, ‘If these things have been written intentionally then it is a case of criminal contempt. We are issuing notice to NCERT Director and Secretary of School Education Department. The next hearing of the case will be on March 11.
During the hearing, bench member Justice Bagchi said that merely stopping the distribution of printed books is not enough. This book is available online in PDF format. On this the Chief Justice said that he himself has seen this book in PDF format. So many wrong things have been written in it that he does not even want to get it recorded in the order. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta assured the court that the PDF file of the book will be removed from every website.
After this, the court recorded the order saying that the book should be confiscated and removed from the reach of the people. PDF available online should also be removed. The principals of the schools where the book has reached should also return it to the department.
Questioning the intentions of those who wrote the controversial part of the book, the court said that all the positive things related to the judiciary have been ignored in it. The major role of the judiciary in protecting the rights of the people was not mentioned. It was also not mentioned that many steps were being taken to provide legal aid to the people and make it easier for them to get justice. Nor is it mentioned that the Supreme Court has passed many important orders against corruption in public life. Spreading negativity and disrespect towards the judiciary among young children cannot be said to be right.
