India's ban on Salman Rushdie's novel may end

NEW DELHI, India: Missing paperwork could see an end to the decades-long ban of Salman Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" in his native India, more than two years after the author's near-fatal stabbing.

This week, a court in New Delhi concluded proceedings on a five-year-old petition challenging the government's 1988 decision to ban the import of a novel that sparked global outrage among Muslims due to alleged blasphemy shortly after its release.

According to the Press Trust of India, a bench led by Justice Rekha Palli ruled that authorities had not provided documentation of the ban notification. "We have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists," the judges concluded.

The petitioner, Sandipan Khan, had argued that he couldn't buy the book because of a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on October 5, 1988, which forbade its import into India. He added that he was unable to locate the notification on any official website or through officials. Khan's lawyer, Uddyam Mukherjee, said that the court's ruling meant that nothing prohibits anybody from importing the novel into India.

"But whether this means it will be sold in bookstores - I don't know, that depends on the publishers or sellers," he told The Associated Press.

When contacted, several bookstores in New Delhi had not heard the recent news. An employee at Jain Book Agency said they were unsure if this ruling meant the novel would be available again in India, adding that if so, it might take time and would depend on the publisher's guidance.

Rushdie's literary agent, Andrew Wylie, declined to comment. Rushdie, now a citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, has also remained silent, with his last post on his social media account (X) in September. Meanwhile, his Indian publisher, Penguin Random House India, issued a statement, calling the ruling a "significant new development" and noting they are "thinking through next steps."

This ruling adds another chapter to Rushdie's complicated relationship with India, where he was born in 1947, just before independence. Rushdie left India as a child and was living in the UK when he published Midnight's Children in 1981, a novel that drew the ire of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for its satire. She sued over a reference to her husband's death, and Rushdie later removed it as part of a settlement.

When India banned The Satanic Verses, Rushdie condemned the move, accusing the government of acting without even reading the book. In an open letter to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, published in The New York Times in 1988, he criticized the ban as "anti-democratic" and "opportunistic."

Though Rushdie visited India privately and attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2007, he later canceled plans to participate in 2012 due to security concerns. The festival has not responded to requests for comment on the recent ruling.

The Satanic Verses also led to a fatwa from Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which forced Rushdie into hiding in 1989. Over time, he reemerged as Iran's government stated in 1998 that it would not enforce the fatwa. However, his calm was shattered in 2022 when he was attacked on stage at a literary festival in New York, leaving him blind in one eye-a traumatic event he recounts in his recent memoir Knife, a finalist for the National Book Award this year.

Khan's lawyer explained that his client, a passionate reader, was driven by curiosity to understand the ban. Khan spent over a year filing requests to locate the official notification of the ban, but authorities repeatedly told him it could not be found. The court confirmed Khan's legal right to obtain the book. His next steps to acquire it, however, remain unclear.

"He doesn't have a clear answer to this yet - if it becomes available in India, he will buy a copy of it," Mukherjee said. "But he can also potentially buy it from international booksellers online, as it is no longer illegal to import the book into the country."

NEW DELHI, India: Missing paperwork could see an end to the decades-long ban of Salman Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" in his native India, more than two years after the author's near-fatal stabbing.

This week, a court in New Delhi concluded proceedings on a five-year-old petition challenging the government's 1988 decision to ban the import of a novel that sparked global outrage among Muslims due to alleged blasphemy shortly after its release.

According to the Press Trust of India, a bench led by Justice Rekha Palli ruled that authorities had not provided documentation of the ban notification. "We have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists," the judges concluded.

The petitioner, Sandipan Khan, had argued that he couldn't buy the book because of a notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs on October 5, 1988, which forbade its import into India. He added that he was unable to locate the notification on any official website or through officials. Khan's lawyer, Uddyam Mukherjee, said that the court's ruling meant that nothing prohibits anybody from importing the novel into India.

"But whether this means it will be sold in bookstores - I don't know, that depends on the publishers or sellers," he told The Associated Press.

When contacted, several bookstores in New Delhi had not heard the recent news. An employee at Jain Book Agency said they were unsure if this ruling meant the novel would be available again in India, adding that if so, it might take time and would depend on the publisher's guidance.

Rushdie's literary agent, Andrew Wylie, declined to comment. Rushdie, now a citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, has also remained silent, with his last post on his social media account (X) in September. Meanwhile, his Indian publisher, Penguin Random House India, issued a statement, calling the ruling a "significant new development" and noting they are "thinking through next steps."

This ruling adds another chapter to Rushdie's complicated relationship with India, where he was born in 1947, just before independence. Rushdie left India as a child and was living in the UK when he published Midnight's Children in 1981, a novel that drew the ire of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for its satire. She sued over a reference to her husband's death, and Rushdie later removed it as part of a settlement.

When India banned The Satanic Verses, Rushdie condemned the move, accusing the government of acting without even reading the book. In an open letter to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, published in The New York Times in 1988, he criticized the ban as "anti-democratic" and "opportunistic."

Though Rushdie visited India privately and attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2007, he later canceled plans to participate in 2012 due to security concerns. The festival has not responded to requests for comment on the recent ruling.

The Satanic Verses also led to a fatwa from Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which forced Rushdie into hiding in 1989. Over time, he reemerged as Iran's government stated in 1998 that it would not enforce the fatwa. However, his calm was shattered in 2022 when he was attacked on stage at a literary festival in New York, leaving him blind in one eye-a traumatic event he recounts in his recent memoir Knife, a finalist for the National Book Award this year.

Khan's lawyer explained that his client, a passionate reader, was driven by curiosity to understand the ban. Khan spent over a year filing requests to locate the official notification of the ban, but authorities repeatedly told him it could not be found. The court confirmed Khan's legal right to obtain the book. His next steps to acquire it, however, remain unclear.

"He doesn't have a clear answer to this yet - if it becomes available in India, he will buy a copy of it," Mukherjee said. "But he can also potentially buy it from international booksellers online, as it is no longer illegal to import the book into the country."