Beyond reach - for litigation
MANEKA Gandhi had got an injunction against publication of his autobiography from the Delhi High Court - which was of course set aside by a Division Bench four years later.
Khushwant Singh had some comments about the High Court judge who passed the injunction order. The Judge had pronounced,
"…. As a matter of common knowledge he (Khushwant Singh) is a learned person with wide experience, having moved with great personalities in India and abroad. Any person would expect from him materials useful to the society which would inspire the younger generation …. Generally, people would expect from great writers high thinking, higher living and high learning. The law in India does not permit scrawly writing by individuals just for the purpose of satisfying their impulses arising out of personal animosities."
Khushwant Singh wrote,
"Thanks Justice, for telling me what I should write about and how. I chose to ignore your advice, as any writer worth his salt would, with a smile on my lips and contempt in my heart."
Maneka had appealed against the order of the Division Bench of the High Court. He wrote in his autobiography, "by the time the case is decided, I will probably be well beyond her reach. I am now getting on to eighty-eight." He wrote this in 2002 and he is right; he waited for 11 years and is now out of her reach - and out of reach for all of us.
That was Khushwant Singh - It was not Sex, Scotch and Screw as publicised, but scholarship and strength unparalleled.