E-Paper
‘No such notification exists’: Delhi HC closes plea against 1988 ban on Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses'
The book was banned in 1988 by the Congress government claiming that it could give rise to law and order problems.
The Delhi high court has closed the proceedings on a petition challenging the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government's decision to ban the import of Salman Rushdie's controversial novel, "The Satanic Verses", in 1998.
In a recent order, Justice Rekha Palli-led high court bench observed that the petition, which was pending since 2019, was infructuous and the petitioner would be entitled to take all actions in respect of the book.
The book was banned in 1988 by the Congress government claiming that it could give rise to law and order problems. The book had triggered a massive international row as sections of Muslims across the world termed it as blasphemous.
Also read: 'Why didn't I fight…?': Salman Rushdie relives brutal knife attack in new memoir
Petitioner Sandipan Khan had claimed in the court that he was unable to import the book on account of a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on October 5, 1988, banning its import in India.
He said the notification wasn't available on the website. It wasn't even present with the officials.
The court noted that the said notification wasn't produced in the court.
"What emerges is that none of the respondents could produce the said notification dated 05.10.1988 with which the petitioner is purportedly aggrieved and, in fact, the purported author of the said notification has also shown his helplessness in producing a copy of the said notification during the pendency of the present writ petition since its filing way back in 2019," the bench, also comprising Justice Saurabh Banerjee, observed.
The court presumed that no such notification existed.
"In the light of the aforesaid circumstances, we have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists, and therefore, we cannot examine the validity thereof and dispose of the writ petition as infructuous," it concluded.
Salman Rushdie, a naturalised American based in New York, has faced death threats since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was declared blasphemous by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini, making Salman Rushdie a global symbol of free speech.
The 76-year-old British-American author was on stage in August 2022 when he was stabbed up to 12 times by accused Hadi Matar in prison for attempted murder.
Rushdie lost an eye in the attack.
With inputs from PTI
