The Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued a legal notice to Bollywood superstar Kareena Kapoor Khan, demanding an explanation for the controversial title of her 2021 pregnancy memoir ‘Kareena Kapoor Khan’s Pregnancy Bible: The Ultimate Manual for Moms-To-Be’.
The notice, served on 9th May by a single-judge bench of Justice Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia, comes after a petition was filed by Jabalpur-based advocate and social worker Christopher Anthony. The Catholic petitioner alleges that the use of the word ‘Bible’ in the book’s title is offensive and hurtful to the religious sentiments of the Christian community across the world.
In his petition, Anthony questioned why the term “Bible,” referring to Christianity’s central sacred text, was used to compare with the actress’s pregnancy experience. “The Bible is the holy book of Christianity all over the world and it is wrong to compare Kareena Kapoor Khan’s pregnancy with the Bible,” he stated.
The petitioner accused the 43-year-old actress, who is one of Bollywood’s highest paid stars, of deliberately using the word to gain “cheap publicity” for her book, taking advantage of the relatively small Christian minority population in the nation.
Alongside Kapoor Khan, legal notices have also been issued to her co-author Aditi Shah Bhimjyani, publisher Juggernaut Books, online retailer Amazon’s Bangalore branch which distributes the book, as well as relevant police and state government authorities in Madhya Pradesh.
Anthony is seeking a ban on further sales of the book and for a criminal case to be registered against Kapoor Khan and the other parties involved in its publication. The notice provides them a seven-day window to respond and defend their stance.
This is not the first time Anthony has taken legal recourse on this matter. He had initially approached the local police in Madhya Pradesh to file a First Information Report (FIR) against Kapoor Khan, but they declined to take any action. His subsequent petitions to register a complaint were also rejected by a magistrate’s court and the Additional Sessions Court, both ruling that he failed to substantiate how using ‘Bible’ in the title was offensive.
The Jabalpur court had stated that Anthony’s petition did not establish grounds for the use of the word “Bible” being hurtful to the Christian community’s sentiments. Dissatisfied with the rulings, the Catholic advocate then escalated the matter to the High Court.
Kapoor Khan’s book digs into her own experiences with pregnancy, accompanied by guidance from medical experts on various aspects like nutrition, fitness and preparing the nursery for expectant mothers.
The High Court has admitted the petition and has posted 1st July as the next date for hearing.