A bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, which went through the allegedly objectionable portions, said it was a dialogue between fictional characters and added “that much of poetic licence has to be given”. The culture of banning books is wrong as it impedes the free flow of ideas, the Supreme Court said on Thursday as it reserved its order on a plea seeking a ban on a Malayalam novel that allegedly derided temple-going Hindu women. A bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, which went through the allegedly objectionable portions, said it was a dialogue between fictional characters and added “that much of poetic licence has to be given”. Justice Chandrachud said “you are giving unnecessary kind of importance to this kind of stuff. Such things are best forgotten.” The CJI cited instances of other books that had shocked the conscience of the public at different times in history. Appearing for the petitioner N Radhakrishnan, advocate Gopal Sankaranayarayan said the book insulted temple priests as a class. He also said that books like Polyster Prince and Satanic Verses still remained banned. “We cannot make a virtue of banning those to ban this book too,” replied Justice Chandrachud. The novel ‘Meesha’ (moustache) authored by S Hareesh, was published in the Malayalam magazine ‘Mathrubhumi’ but withdrawn following protests. However, a different publisher decided to publish it. Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand opposed the plea to ban the book and said it would go against freedom of speech and expression. Senior advocate Jaideep Gupta said the petition was mostly “political diatribe” and requested the court not to entertain it. Sankaranarayan then sought permission to withdraw the plea, but the court refused to allow it, saying it would pass an order.