Notification banning import of ‘The Satanic Verses’ must be presumed non-existent, says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that a notification banning the import of writer Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses must be presumed to be non-existent.

The High Court disposed of a petition challenging the purported notification issued under the Customs Act.

This came after the Central Board Of Indirect Taxes and Customs told the court that the purported directive from 1988 banning the import of the book could not be traced. As the authorities could not produce the order, a bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Saurabh Banerjee declined to examine whether the ban was valid.

“In the light of the aforesaid circumstances, we have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists, and therefore, we cannot examine the validity thereof and dispose of the writ petition as infructuous,” the High Court said.

The petition was filed by a man named Sandipan Khan, who demanded that he should be allowed to import the novel.

Khan’s lawyer highlighted that the notification could not be found on any government website or in official records, rendering verification impossible.

To bolster Khan’s case, his legal team cited a 2017 response to a Right to Information request, which confirmed the book’s banned status but did not include the actual notification. They also referenced a 2022 order...

Read more