Arundhati Roy on India's 'growing atmosphere of intolerance'

The author Arundhati Roy has sharply criticised Penguin India for recalling and destroying all remaining copies of a controversial book on Hinduism by a prominent US scholar.

Ms Roy told the BBC World Service that there was a "growing atmosphere of intolerance" in India and that censorship had been "outsourced to the goon squad".

Penguin India has defended its decision to pulp The Hindus: An Alternative History by Wendy Doniger.

It said it had to respect the laws of land, such as those which make it a crime to offend religious feeling.

Hindu campaign group Shiksha Bachao Andolan brought a civil case in 2011 against Penguin India, arguing that the book contained "heresies" insulting to Hindus.