India welcomes Russian court’s verdict on Gita

(December 30, 2011) India’s Ministry of External Affairs has welcomed a Russian court’s refusal to ban a translated version of the Hindu sacred book, the Bhagvad Gita. It termed the verdict, which was delivered by a court in Tomsk city on Wednesday, as a “sensible resolution of a sensitive issue”. The verdict came a day after foreign minister S. M. Krishna registered India’s protest with Russian envoy Alexander Kadakin. The case, which was in the court for the past six months, was against Iskcon’s version of the Gita. Prosecutors argued that the Russian edition of ‘Bhagavad Gita As It Is’ promoted hatred towards non-believers. They appealed to the court to put ‘Bhagavad Gita As It Is’ on the Russian Federal List of Extremist Materials, which bans more than 1,000 texts. In a statement, Indian ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra said, “the verdict of the honourable judge in Tomsk in dismissing the case pertaining to Bhagavad Gita deserves to be applauded.”