Kamal Ghorui
SRINAGAR: The J&K administration has defended its order to ban 25 Kashmir-related books in a reply filed in high court Wednesday on a set of petitions challenging the order.Senior additional advocate general (AAG) Mohsin Qadri told TOI, “We have defended the decision to ban the books on grounds of state security and public order. They (the petitioners) have now been given time to file their rejoinder,” he said.Qadri said the government has also defended the legal provision under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) invoked to impose the ban, as the petitioners have challenged its applicability in the case. “We are defending both the ban and legal provision,” he said.The court said the matter will be heard on a date to be fixed after the petitioners’ counsels — Vrinda Grover, Sanjay Hegde and Rakesh Shakdher and others —indicate their availability. The three advocates were present online.The UT administration, under the Lieutenant Governor, is defending the ban while the elected government led by CM Omar Abdullah is not a party to the case as it did not issue the ban order.The HC has constituted a three-judge full bench to hear petitions challenging the move banning books, including Azadi by Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy.On Aug 5 last year, on the sixth anniversary of abrogation of Article 370, the order by the J&K home department, which functions under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, banned the publication and circulation of 25 books on Kashmir, saying they promote a “false narrative” and “secessionism” in the Union Territory.The books include Kashmir: The Case for Freedom by Tariq Ali, Pankaj Mishra; Confronting Terrorism, edited by Maroof Raza and written by Stephen P. Cohen, Independent Kashmir by Christopher Snedden, Between Democracy and Nation by Seema Kazi, Contested Lands by Sumantra Bose, In Search of a Future by journalist and author David Devdas, A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 by Anuradha Bhasin, Colonizing Kashmir by Hafsa Kanjwal.The order stated that the govt has “credible intelligence which indicate that a significant driver behind youth participation violence and terrorism has been the systematic dissemination of false narratives and secessionist literature by its persistent internal circulation, often disguised as historical or political commentary, while playing a critical role in misguiding the youth, glorifying terrorism and inciting violence against Indian State”.Following the notice, police raided book shops across Kashmir and seized several books.
