Siberian prosecutors: Hindu text must be banned

Prosecutors in Russia’s Siberian city of Tomsk have insisted that a Russian translation of the book on a Hindu scripture called "Bhagavad-Gita As It Is" should be banned as extremist literature, filing an appeal against an earlier court ruling not to ban the book, a court spokeswoman said. In late December 2011, a Siberian district court rejected a petition by prosecutors seeking a ban on the book. The petition was originally filed in June that year and the trial has prompted a flurry of criticism in international media. "Bhagavad Gita As It Is", a translation and commentary of the original Bhagavad Gita Hindu scripture, was written by the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Prosecutors have claimed the book promotes extremism and “social discord”. India has expressed concerns over the prospect of Russia banning the book, urging the Russian government to quickly resolve the issue. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has said the translated version may not be linguistically true to the original of the Hindu scripture as it contained “semantic distortions,” which may have an effect on its meaning.