Wendy Doniger case: Could Penguin have won?

Legally India editor Kian Ganz was in an online Q&A today, fielding some excellent and insightful questions on freedom of speech from CNN-IBN’s viewers. The discussion of course comes on the eve of a media storm surrounding the controversial agreement by Penguin to pulp all India-based copies of Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History.

Kian Ganz: “No one knows right now why Penguin chose to settle the criminal and civil cases.

My suspicion for why they did boils down to two different reasons.

1. Fighting a legal case such as this one can take many many years, potentially, and would likely involve at least one appeal to the Supreme Court of India, which is not cheap, nor would winning be a certainty.