New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has accorded sanction for the prosecution of Man Booker award-winning author Arundhati Roy and a former Kashmiri professor in a 2010 case related to alleged provocative speeches.
The FIR against Roy and former professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain was registered following the orders of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi.
“LG VK Saxena noted that prima facie a case is made out against Roy and Dr Hussain, former Professor, International Law, Central University of Kashmir, for the commission of offence under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of Indian Penal Code for their speeches at a public function in the national capital,” a Raj Niwas official said on Tuesday.
Under Section 196(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a valid sanction for prosecution from the state government is a prerequisite for certain offences such as hate speech, hurting religious sentiments, hate crimes, sedition, waging war against state and promoting enmity among others.
Two other accused – Kashmiri separatist leader Sayed Ali Shah Geelani and a Delhi University lecturer Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in Parliament attack case on technical grounds – died during the pendency of the case.
The complainant had alleged that the issue discussed and propagated was “Separation of Kashmir from India”.
It was also alleged the speeches were provocative in nature, thus jeopardising public peace and security.