The Bombay High Court on Thursday said it knew that Leo Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' was a literary classic and that it didn't mean to suggest that all the books seized by Pune police in the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima case were incriminating.
The observation by Justice Sarang Kotwal came a day after media reports said he asked accused Vernon Gonsalves to explain why he kept "objectionable material" like a copy of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" at his home.
The court's latest comments came after the counsel for Gonsalves informed it that none of the books seized from the activist's residence last year were banned by the government in accordance with CrPC provisions.
Justice Kotwal said, "You have made your point about the books not being banned. Besides, yesterday, I was reading the whole list from the charge sheet. It was written in such poor handwriting. I know War and Peace. I was making a query on the entire list that police has mentioned (as evidence)."
Yug Chaudhary, counsel for co-accused Sudha Bhardwaj, then told the court that the 'War and Peace' that the court had referred to on Wednesday was a collection of essays edited by one Biswajit Roy, and was titled 'War and Peace in Junglemahal: People, State and Maoists'.
