From India News Network(INN)Below we publish the statement issued on February 21 by Professor S Gopal, general editor of the "Towards Freedom" series, on the ICHR's decision to withdraw from publication two volumes of the series.

The unilateral decision of the ICHR to withdraw the volumes and subject them to a review without consulting the general editor and the editors of the concerned volumes is a violation of the terms under which the project was conceived and executed. It also amounts to an infringement of the academic rights and freedom of the authors who were invited by the ICHR to undertake this work. Apart from the personal discourtesy, it is disturbing and unethical that a purely academic exercise should involve intervention by officials.