India Lifts 3-Decade Ban on Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’

India’s three-decade ban on importing Salman Rushdie’s controversial book, “The Satanic Verses,” has been effectively lifted. This development follows a court ruling that the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.

The Delhi High Court, while hearing a petition challenging the import ban, was informed by the government that the 1988 order was “untraceable.” The court stated, “The ban has been lifted as of November 5 because there is no notification”.

Uddyam Mukherjee, the lawyer representing petitioner Sandipan Khan, remarked, “The government could not produce the said notification. In fact, the purported author of the notification has also shown his helplessness in producing a copy”.

The Delhi High Court has permitted a Delhi resident to lawfully procure the book titled The Satanic Verses by Booker Prize-winning author Salman Rushdie after the Centre failed to produce a 1988 notification which banned the import of the controversial book. pic.twitter.com/28e8du27TA

— The Gorilla 🦍 (@iGorilla19) November 8, 2024

The ban, initially imposed due to the book’s controversial content, which some Muslims viewed as blasphemous, had sparked violent protests and book burnings across the Muslim world, including in India. The India-born British author’s novel was banned shortly after its publication in September 1988.

Petitioner Sandipan Khan, who approached the court in 2019, expressed relief at the decision. “I was told at bookstores that the novel could not be sold or imported in India. When I searched, I could not find the official import ban order on government websites,” Khan said, according to First Post.

The controversy

The controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses began almost immediately after its publication in 1988. The novel was perceived by many Muslims as blasphemous due to its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad and its questioning of the divine origins of the Quran.

Fatwa Issued:

In 1989, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death, which led to multiple assassination attempts on Rushdie and attacks on individuals associated with the book.

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