Mont Blanc forced to remove Gandhi image from £16k ink cartridge pen

Mont Blanc has been told to remove the image of Mahatma Gandhi from its £16,000 white gold ink cartridge fountain pen.

Luxury pen manufacturer Mont Blanc has been told to remove the image of Mahatma Gandhi from its £16,000 white gold ink cartridge fountain pen by an Indian court, the Times reports.

The case ruled that that German firm had to stop selling the luxury pen and its ink cartridges after outraged protestors had said it "degraded everything that Gandhi symbolised".

Said pen featured a rhodium-plated nib on which was an image of Gandhi and was released in October 2009 to coincide with the 140th anniversary of his birth, but protestors claimed that such a frugal man would have not supported such a lavish purchase.

The firm's spokesperson argued that "It's not an opulent pen. It's a writing instrument that's very pure" while Tushar Gandhi, one of the Mahatama's great-grandchildren, had no issue with the device which uses ink cartridges.

He told the paper: "People are being deprived of the right to commemorate Gandhi and that's a very un-Gandhian thing to do."

By Johnny McMaster