New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday closed the hearing on the petition challenging the then Rajiv Gandhi government's decision to ban Salman Rushdie's controversial novel ‘The Satanic Verses’. A bench headed by Justice Rekha Palli said the administration failed to produce the notification regarding the ban on this novel, so it should be understood that this “notification does not exist.”
The petition was filed by Sandipan Khan, who said that he was not in a position to import this book because of the central government’s ban in 1988.
While banning this novel, the then government had said that the import of this novel could lead to a situation of law and order deteriorating because Muslims all over the world consider this novel as blasphemy.
The petitioner argued that the Central Board of Indirect Taxes had issued a notification on October 5, 1988, banning the import of this book, but the copy of the notification was neither available on the official website nor with the administration.
The court said that neither the administration nor the author of the novel could show this notification while the case was pending. This petition was filed in 2019. In such a situation, it should be assumed that this notification does not exist.
“Now this petition has no meaning, so the hearing on the petition is closed,” it said.
The petitioner had demanded a stay on the notification banning this novel but also demanded guidelines for the import of this novel so that he could order the novel from international e-commerce websites.
