Satanic Verses: Indian officials misplace Salman Rushdie's book ban order


Satanic Verses: Indian officials misplace Salman Rushdie

Umang Poddar BBC News, Hindi, 11/08/2024 Is it legal to import Sir Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses in India? This question has been puzzling legal experts since the Delhi High Court suggested this week that the notification banning the novel’s import - issued in 1988 - might no longer be valid, as the government couldn't locate it. The Satanic Verses, criticised by some Muslims as blasphemous, was banned in India shortly after its release, sparking protests worldwide. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989, calling for Rushdie’s assassination. This forced the Indian-born Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for nearly a decade. Although the book remains officially banned in India, some legal experts now believe it could be imported unless the government reaffirms the ban. Others, however, caution that practical obstacles may still exist. The ban on the book came under scrutiny after Sandipan Khan, a resident of West Bengal state, tried to buy the book but learnt that it was not published in India nor could it be imported. In 2017, he filed a Right to Information (RTI) request for the official notification banning the book’s import, but was sent through a series of departments without finding it. In 2019, Khan took the matter to the Delhi High Court, arguing that the ban impacted his freedom to read. Over five years, government departments repeatedly failed to produce the notification, despite customs having similar records from as far back as 1968. Finally, on 5 November, the court declared it had no option but to “presume” that no such ban notification exists and therefore couldn’t assess its validity. The case raises a perplexing question: is a notification valid if no copy of it can be found? The simple answer is, we don't yet. The court has not clarified if the book could be accessed in India but advised Mr Khan to pursue any legal options to obtain it. Uddyam Mukherjee, Mr Khan’s lawyer, told the BBC that federal departments couldn’t provide a clear answer either, when asked by the court. “I have never come across a situation like this,” said Madan Lokur, a former judge of the Supreme Court. If the notification is not found then “technically no ban exists” and the book can be imported. “However, the government may pass a fresh notification [banning the book's import],” Mr Lokur added, since the court has not declared the ban to be unconstitutional, but only said that the notification is presumed to not exist.