India, Feb. 27 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday imposed a "complete blanket ban" on any further publication, reprinting or digital dissemination of NCERT's Class 8 social science book as it contains "offending" contents on corruption in the judiciary, saying they have fired a gunshot and the judiciary is "bleeding".

Observing that there appeared to be a

"deep-rooted conspiracy" and "calculated move" to undermine the institution and demean the dignity of the judiciary, the apex court directed that all copies of the book - physical and digital - currently in circulation be immediately seized and removed from public access without any delay.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant issued show cause notices to the NCERT director and the...