One of the most controversial books in the Muslim world can now be legally imported into India after its High Court ruled a three-decade ban on it technically does not exist.
Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses was considered so blasphemous that it led to book burnings and violent demonstrations in a number of Muslim countries after its release in September 1988.
India, which has the world’s third largest Muslim population, banned the Satanic Verses not long after its release.
But since 2019, the ban has subject to a legal challenge by a petitioner Sandipan Khan, who said he was unable to find the official import ban on government websites.
As it turns out, neither could the government.
According to a court order from earlier this week, India’s government told the Delhi High Court that the import ban order “was untraceable and, therefore could not be produced”.
As a result, the court said it had “no other option except to presume that no such notification exists”.
It paves the way for the Satanic Verses to be imported into India, at least until another ban is put in place.
The book has long caused outrage in the Muslim world.
In 1989, Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie over the book.
The Indian-born British author was forced into hiding for six years as a result.
In August 2022, about 33 years after the fatwa, Rushdie was stabbed on stage during a lecture in New York, which left him blind in one eye and affected the use of one of his hands.
Reuters