Delhi High Court lifts 36-year import ban on Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses due to missing notification
Salman Rushdie
The Delhi High Court on Thursday (Nov. 7) lifted the 36-year-old import ban on author Salman Rushdie’s controversial book, ‘The Satanic Verses’, stating that the Customs notification banning its import could not be found, reported Bar and Bench.
This case dates back to 1988 when the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) imposed a ban on the import of Rushdie’s controversial novel during the Rajiv Gandhi-led government.
The CBIC failed to produce the said notification of the ban dated October 5, 1988, and admitted that it “is untraceable”.
A division bench of the court declared the plea as infructuous on November 5 and noted that it has no other option “except to presume that no such notification exists.”
It further clarified that the petitioner will be “entitled to take all actions in respect of the said book as available in law.”
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The bench ruled, “From the aforesaid, what emerges is that none of the respondents could produce the said notification dated 05.10.1988 with which the petitioner (Khan) 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… In 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.”
In 2019, the petitioner Sandipan Khan, represented by advocate Uddyam Mukherjee moved the Delhi High Court after he was unable to import the book as it got banned.
Watch |Salman Rushdie stabbing trial delayed, Rushdie's memoir 'Knife' reveals details of attack
He was also told by bookstores that the book is not permitted to be sold in India, adding that the book is not published in India.
The Satanic Verses is the fourth novel by the Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie.
However now, the Delhi HC’s decision has lifted the ban on the import of Rushdie’s book in India,signalling the end of a long-standing ban.
(With inputs from agencies)
