AFP/New Delhi

A man launched a legal challenge to halt the sale of $28,000 pens engraved with the image of Mahatma Gandhi, saying they were an insult to the independence leader, a report said yesterday.

Germany-based Montblanc unveiled the limited-edition fountain pens, which are plated with white gold and rhodium, in Mumbai last week to mark the 140th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth.

Dijo Kapen, from the Centre of Consumer Education in Kerala’s Kottayam district, filed a petition in state high court challenging Montblanc’s right to market the pens, the Press Trust of India reported.

Kapen said the idea was an inappropriate tribute to a man who renounced material possessions, and he cited a law that prohibits the use of Gandhi’s image for business purposes without the permission of the government.

But Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi told PTI that Gandhi’s image had long been put to commercial use and that Montblanc wished to pay homage the iconic peace campaigner.

Only 241 of the pens will be up for sale, marking the number of miles Gandhi and his followers walked in 1930 to protest against a British tax on salt.

Montblanc is also offering a cheaper limited-edition pen with Gandhi’s image, which will cost $3,000 to $4,000.

The company has made a donation to Tushar Gandhi’s charitable foundation.