Court restrains publishing of book

A Jabalpur trial court has effectively banned the book, “It Was Five Past Midnight in Bhopal” with an interim order passed to this effect on Monday.

The book, written by Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro, is a dramatised account of the Bhopal gas tragedy. The order restrains the authors, both French nationals, and the publishers, Full Circle Publication Private Limited, New Delhi from printing, publishing, selling and distributing the book across the country.

The order passed by the 14th Additional District Judge, Rajeev Singh, comes in response to a defamation suit filed by former Madhya Pradesh DGP Swaraj Puri, against the authors and the publishers for carrying defamatory remarks attributed to him in it. “It Was Five Past Midnight in Bhopal”, based on events that led to the fateful night of December 2nd, 1984, was first published in 1997.