INDIAN AUTHOR ARUNDHATI ROY FACES PROSECUTION FOR ‘PROVOCATIVE’ KASHMIR REMARKS

Mon 17 June 2024:

Famed Indian author and novelist Arundhati Roy will be prosecuted under stringent laws for her comments on Kashmir made in 2010.

The sanction to prosecute Booker prize-winning author Roy was granted on Friday by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena, top official of the Indian capital.

Roy and Kashmiri law academic Sheikh Showkat Hussain will be prosecuted under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act over alleged “provocative speeches” delivered at a conference held in 2010 in New Delhi.

“The issues discussed and spoken about at the conference propagated the separation of Kashmir from India,” Press Trust of India reported.

Delhi police had registered a case in the matter after it had received a complaint from Sushil Pandit, a social activist from Kashmir, on Oct. 28, 2010.

Last year, the Saxena’s office had granted sanction to prosecute them under different sections of the Indian Penal Code.

Sharad Pawar, a top Indian opposition leader, on Saturday described the lieutenant governor’s move as “misuse of power.”

Roy, whose novel The God Of Small Things won the Booker prize in 1997, has been one of  Modi’s most vocal critics.

As part of her political activism, she has been outspoken against laws the BJP has brought in against minority groups and press freedoms.

Roy’s home in Delhi was mobbed with protesters after the comments made during the panel discussion were published.