SRINAGAR, Oct 13: The High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh today issued notice to JK Home Department on four petitions challenging the ban on books spreading “false narratives and secessionism,” but it refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation in the matter.
The PIL had been moved by CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, stating that the same was not in ‘public interest’.
A three-judge special bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli, Justice Rajnesh Oswal and Justice Shahzad Azeem issued notices on four petitions challenging the government’s notification on August 5 forfeiting 25 books for allegedly propagating “false narratives and secessionism.”
The petitions challenging the Home Department’s notification ordering the forfeiture of the publications under Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) has been filed separately by journalist David Devadas, retired Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak and others, advocate Shakir Shabir, and Swastik Singh.
Kak’s petition termed the notification by the Home department a “sweeping and mechanical exercise” that criminalises academic inquiry . It asserts that the government has failed to demonstrate how the listed publications, many of which are scholarly or historical works, could be considered threats to sovereignty or integrity.
The full bench of the court has fixed December 4 as the date for the final hearing and arguments.
On August 5, the Jammu & Kashmir Home Department banned the publication of 25 books on Kashmir, including by authors such as Arundhati Roy and A G Noorani, saying they propagate “secessionism”.
The other books include political commentaries and historical accounts such as The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 by noted constitutional expert Noorani, Kashmir at the Crossroads and Contested Lands by Sumantra Bose, In Search of a Future: The Kashmir Story by David Devadas, Roy’s Azadi and A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 by journalist Anuradha Bhasin.
In August, a PIL challenging the ban on 25 books was initially filed in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court advised the petitioner to approach the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court. (Agencies)
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