<p> A Russian court today dismissed a petition seeking a ban on a translated version of Bhagwad Gita for being ''extremist'', bringing cheers to followers across the world.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The court in the Siberian city of Tomsk has dismissed the plea," Sadhu Priya Das of Moscow ISKCON told PTI soon after the verdict was announced.<br /><br />State prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk had filed an appeal against a lower court's dismissal of their original plea seeking a ban on "Bhagavad Gita As It Is", written by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).<br /><br />They claimed that the text was "extremist" literature full of hatred and insult to non-believers which promoted social discord.<br /><br />The higher court in Tomsk "kept the verdict of the lower court intact," a joyful Das said.<br />As the judge dismissed the plea, the followers in the packed courtroom burst into applause, he said.<br /><br />"We are grateful to the Russian judicial system," Das said.Brajendra Nandan Das, Director ISKCON media communication in India, expressed happiness over the verdict. "We have won. The petition seeking a ban on the book has been dismissed," he told PTI.<br /><br />The case had drawn a flurry of criticism from Hindus across the world.When the petition was dismissed by the lower court in Tomsk on December 28 last year, India had welcomed the verdict as a "sensible resolution of a sensitive issue".<br /><br />The original petition seeking a ban on the translated version of the holy scripture was filed in June 2011 and the trial prompted sharp reactions from across the world.<br />External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had asked the Russian government to help resolve the issue quickly.<br /><br />Bhagavad Gita was first published in Russia in 1788 and since then it has been republished many times in various translations.</p>
<p> A Russian court today dismissed a petition seeking a ban on a translated version of Bhagwad Gita for being ''extremist'', bringing cheers to followers across the world.<br /><br /></p>.<p>"The court in the Siberian city of Tomsk has dismissed the plea," Sadhu Priya Das of Moscow ISKCON told PTI soon after the verdict was announced.<br /><br />State prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk had filed an appeal against a lower court's dismissal of their original plea seeking a ban on "Bhagavad Gita As It Is", written by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).<br /><br />They claimed that the text was "extremist" literature full of hatred and insult to non-believers which promoted social discord.<br /><br />The higher court in Tomsk "kept the verdict of the lower court intact," a joyful Das said.<br />As the judge dismissed the plea, the followers in the packed courtroom burst into applause, he said.<br /><br />"We are grateful to the Russian judicial system," Das said.Brajendra Nandan Das, Director ISKCON media communication in India, expressed happiness over the verdict. "We have won. The petition seeking a ban on the book has been dismissed," he told PTI.<br /><br />The case had drawn a flurry of criticism from Hindus across the world.When the petition was dismissed by the lower court in Tomsk on December 28 last year, India had welcomed the verdict as a "sensible resolution of a sensitive issue".<br /><br />The original petition seeking a ban on the translated version of the holy scripture was filed in June 2011 and the trial prompted sharp reactions from across the world.<br />External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had asked the Russian government to help resolve the issue quickly.<br /><br />Bhagavad Gita was first published in Russia in 1788 and since then it has been republished many times in various translations.</p>
