The Bombay High Court posted the petition for further hearing after four weeks (Representational)
The Bombay High Court has sought the response of Balbharti, the publisher of school textbooks, on a petition seeking deletion of a chapter in a history textbook in which Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale is referred to as a "terrorist". A division bench headed by Justice Anoop Mohta gave the response earlier this week while hearing a petition filed by city resident Amritpalsingh Khalsa.
In his petition, Mr Khalsa alleged that the Maharashtra State Bureau of Textbooks Production and Curriclum Research (known as Balbharti) is spreading a "vicious propaganda" by calling Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale a "terrorist".
He sought a direction to Balbharti to delete the reference to Bhindranwale as "terrorist", in a chapter in the history textbook of class 9. The petition has also sought a direction to Balbharti to apologise to the Sikh community for allegedly hurting their religious sentiments and to direct the police to file a complaint against the education body.
The high court has posted the petition for further hearing after four weeks. Bhindranwale was killed in Operation Bluestar in 1984.