Overview
- OUP India’s public notice acknowledged that statements on pages 31, 33, 34, and 93 were unverified and expressed regret for their publication.
- The apology was addressed to MP Udayanraje Bhosale, a 13th-generation descendant of Shivaji, as well as to the public at large.
- The Kolhapur bench of the Bombay High Court required a nationwide apology in Marathi and English as a condition to quash 2005 criminal defamation proceedings against former OUP India MD Sayeed Manzar Khan and others.
- OUP said the book was published briefly more than two decades ago and was recalled and withdrawn from circulation after concerns were raised.
- James Laine’s 2003 book had triggered large protests in 2004, including the ransacking of Pune’s Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, and the Maharashtra government later banned the title.