India has imposed an import ban on British Indian novelist and essayist Salman Rushdie's book 'Satanic Verses'. In 1988, the Congress government led by Rajiv Gandhi banned it. A notification banning the import of the book from India was also issued at that time. Although that notification is still missing.

A case was filed in the Delhi High Court in 2019 as to why the ban should not be lifted. In view of which the ban notice is sought. However, for five years, the central government authorities could not show the court the original notification regarding the ban. Following which, Justice Rekha Patil and Justice Sourav Gangopadhyay said, there is no point in proceeding in this case without the main statement of prohibition.

What is the case?

In 2019, Sandipan Khan applied to the court and said that he could not bring this book of Rushdie from abroad. It is said that on October 5, 1988, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) banned the import of books. But he is not seeing this notification in any official place. He wants to challenge this notification. Because, he feels, this directive is violating his right to read books.

Court observations

During the hearing, the court observed that no one could show this notification. Even the person who is said to have created the notification could not show it. That is why the judges said, 'where there is no notification, there is no basis to verify its validity. In this context, we are left with no alternative but to assume that no such notification exists. We cannot judge its validity. Therefore, we consider this writ petition to be infructuous.'

What will happen now?

Congress leader Sandeep Dixit told Times Now, 'There is a right to freedom of expression in India. If it offends the faith of a community, the government bans that book. There was a lawsuit over the banning of Rushdie's book. Now what the court is saying, that must be accepted.

However, nothing has been officially said about whether Rushdie's book can be brought to India. Netizens are expressing various opinions on the matter on social media.