Journalist Posts Pictures Of Katha Book With Hindu Deities On Cover Kept As Toilet Paper, Sparks Row

A woman, purportedly a journalist, named Sushmita Sinha, has caused a row on social media after she posted photographs of a booklet titled ‘Haritalika Teej Vrat Katha’ kept near a commode to be used as toilet paper. She also posted a video calling the book “a raddi kitab (useless book)".

"Is raddi kitab ke liye maine Rs 15 kharch kiye. Ab yeh kitaab mere kisi kaam ki nahi hai. To mai yeh socch rahi hu, ise mai tissue paper ki tarah ya toilet paper ki tarah istemaal kaaru. Aap ka kya kehna hai (I bought this useless book for Rs 15 and it is of no use to me. So I am thinking of using it either as a tissue paper or a toilet paper. What do you all think", Sinha has been quoted as saying in the video.

Following the outrage which included many social media users demanding her arrest, Sinha has claimed that only a part of her video is being circulated. She also alleged that she is now getting rape threats.

In the clarification video, Sinha says the book is anti-women and reads a page from the book. The text says that if a woman does not follow Haritalika fast, she remains a widow, childless and poor in subsequent births.

Many on social media pointed out that the booklet is not an authentic Hindu scripture and, to show her criticism, she did not have to post pictures of it near commode given that it has pictures of Hindu deities on the cover.