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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court recently lifted a 36-year-old import ban on Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses after finding the Customs notification enforcing the ban to be "untraceable."

A division bench comprising Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Saurabh Banerjee, while presuming that no such notification exists said, "From the aforesaid, what emerges is that none of the respondents could produce the said Notification dated 05.10.1988 with which the petitioner 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.".

Notably, in 1988, the Congress-led government banned Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses following a global outcry from the Muslim community, which considered the book blasphemous to the Islamic faith.

In the same year, Rushdie faced death threats as Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared the novel blasphemous and issued a fatwa against him.

Recently, petitioner Sandipan Khan filed a plea challenging the notification issued under the Customs Act restricting the import of the book. The petitioner argued that he had been prevented from importing the book due to its ban, which was enacted through the Customs notification.

During the hearing, Advocate Uddyam Mukherjee, appearing for the petitioner, submitted before the bench that notification is neither available on any of the respondent’s websites nor is available with any of the respondents. The respondents have also been unable to produce or file it before this Court.

To bolster the argument, the petitioner drew the court's attention to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed wherein it was confirmed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that the book was banned. It further informed that the said notification was untraceable and therefore could not be produced.

Upon hearing the arguments, the court said, "In the 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."

Accordingly, the court allowed the petitioner to import the book into India. "The petitioner will, therefore, be entitled to take all actions in respect of the said book as available in law."

Case Title: Sandipan Khan vs. The Chairman Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (W.P.(C) 4676/2019)

Petitioners: Uddyam Mukherjee, Mr Swapnil Pattanayak, Advocates

Respondents: Mr. Anurag Ojha Sr., Standing Counsel for R1 and R2 with Mr. Subham. Kumar Advocate. Mr Ravi Prakash, CGSC, Ms Taha Yasin, and Mr Yasharth, Advocates