India: As part of Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government’s attempts to suppress the voices supporting the Kashmir cause, the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena, has granted sanction for the prosecution of noted Indian author Arundhati Roy and Kashmiri intellectual Sheikh Showkat Hussain in an old case.
The case is related to their speeches during a Kashmir conference organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners under the banner of “Azadi – The Only Way”, in New Delhi on October 21, 2010.
An official release by the LG office, today, said, “The FIR in the matter was registered vide orders dated November 27, 2010, of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi.” VK Saxena, who is member of BJP, maintained in the release that a prima facie case was made out against Roy and Hussain, former Professor of International Law at Central University of Kashmir, for the commission of an offence under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for their speeches.
However, the statement said, despite a case of sedition being made out, sanction has not been granted owing to the fact that the Indian Supreme Court on May 05, 2022, in another case, had directed that all pending trials, appeals and proceedings with respect to the charge framed under sedition shall be kept in abeyance and thereafter the three-Judge Bench headed by CJI (Chief Justice of India) had referred the matter to the Constitution Bench on September 12, 2023.
Delhi Police, in view of the directions of the apex court, had said that the decision on the request for grant of prosecution sanction for offence under sedition may not be taken at present.
The release said the veteran Kashmiri Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani, and noted Kashmiri intellectual, Professor Syed Abdul Rehman Gilani, have died during the pendency of the case.
It is to mention here that Sushil Pandit, a social activist from occupied Kashmir, had filed a complaint with SHO, Tilak Marg, against various persons/speakers who delivered speeches in the Kashmir conference. The complainant had alleged that the issue discussed and propagated was separation of Kashmir from India.
Syed Ali Gilani and Arundhati Roy maintained that Jammu and Kashmir was never part of India and was forcibly occupied by Armed Forces of India and every possible effort should be made for the independence of Jammu and Kashmir from India. Besides Roy, Hussain, Syed Ali Gilani, Prof S.A.R Gilani, others present on the occasion included Maoist sympathizer, Varvara Rao.
