Why I am an Atheist October 5-6, 1930 Bhagat Singh - The defining role played in absentia by

Bhagat Singh, in the hours and days after his hanging, a role that history has not recognized,
acknowledged or learnt from. He wrote “the day shall usher in a new era of liberty when a large
number of men and women, taking courage from the idea of serving humanity… will wage a war
against their oppressors, tyrants or exploiters…. to establish liberty and peace”.

Voltaire:“I despise what you write : but will defend to the death your right to write it.”

James Griffins – “People are moral “persons”. They have normative agency.”

Ineliminable - incapable of being removed or excluded from consideration.

“A measure of a person’s power is how many people he derives it from.”

In an earlier interview to The Hindu, the writer said:“I wonder if I can think independently [again]. This
was perhaps the intention of the opposing forces.” Suchitra Vijayan in her article on “The death of the
Author Perumal Murugan” laments that a society that allows for its storytellers to be silenced is one in
need of ethical and political introspection. The travesty of the Perumal Murugan is not just a matter of
freedom of expression. It is the imposition of a narrative tyranny and the state's abdication of its
responsibility to protect our rights.

Mr. Murugan's novel, published in English translation in 2014 as “One Part Woman,” tells the story of a
woman who plans to take part in a local religious ritual in which childless women have sex with
strangers in order to conceive. Justice Kaul dismissed the idea that Mr. Murugan's book be censored:“All
writings, unpalatable for one section of the society, cannot be labelled as obscene, vulgar, depraving,
prurient and immoral.” The Judge underscored that, “One of the most cherished rights under our
Constitution is to speak one's mind and write what one thinks.” Finally, he chided the book's detractors
with simple advice:“If you do not like a book, throw it away” and concluded “Let the author be
resurrected to what he is best at. Write.” A buoyed Mr. Murugan vowed, “I will get up.”

Constitutional Courts are intermediaries between majority rule and minority rights.

In Perumal v. Govt. of Tamil Nadu, the ban was sought on three grounds: i. Obscenity ii. Defamation iii.
Derogatory and hurtful religious sentiments.

“Book is not to be read as a statute to come to a conclusion. Sentences cannot be picked up here and
there to give a conclusion.” – ibid.

We are faced with a delicate situation of a book raising social issues. Has it crossed the boundaries? In
deciding the weight of the balance between what may be construed as ‘morality’ and ‘artistic creativity
and expression’, one walks on ice. Are even the travails of a childless couple dealing with social stigma in
the context of socially and economically backwardness to be represented in a more ‘decent’ way? Is it
ground reality or just a figment of imagination of the author?
Para 136 – How to test obscenity? A common test which can be followed is that

Para 138 We cannot lose sight of the fact that the story if of people who are both socially and
economically backward.

Para 147.

Para 148.

Para 151.

Para 166.

Para 169.