Kashmir Speech: Arundhati to face trial under anti-terror law

India’s authorities have sanctioned the prosecution of award-winning author-activist Arundhati Roy and former professor at the Central University of Kashmir Showkat Hossain under a stringent anti-terror law for allegedly making provocative speeches at an event in New Delhi in 2010.

The sanction to try Roy, the author best known for her novel “The God of Small Things” which won the Booker Prize in 1997, and Hossain under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was granted by Delhi’s Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Friday, officials in his office said.

Last October, Saxena had granted sanction to prosecute Roy and Hossain in the same case under section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under a milder law of Indian Penal Code: 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).

Under Indian Penal Code sections 153A, 153B and 505, a maximum sentence of up to three years is provided, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

However, section 13 of UAPA relates to unlawful activities for advocating, abetting or inciting any unlawful activity and is punishable with imprisonment of up to seven years.

It was alleged in the 2010 FIR that the accused had strongly propagated that Kashmir was never part of India and was forcibly occupied by the Indian armed forces and every possible effort should be made for the independence of the state of Jammu and Kashmir from the State of India.

The FIR was registered on a complaint by social activist Sushil Pandit on October 28, 2010, following the orders of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, they added.

It accused Roy and Hossain of delivering the “provocative” speeches at a conference organised under the banner of ‘Azadi-The Only Way’ on October 21, 2010, at the Little Theatre Group (LTG) Auditorium on Copernicus Marg in central Delhi.

Besides Roy and Hossain, those who delivered speeches at the conference in 2010 included Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, S A R Geelani (anchor of the Conference and prime accused in the Parliament attack case), and pro-Maoist cultural activist Varavara Rao.

However, the decision to try Arundhati Roy and Hossain under the tough anti-terror law has triggered a war of words between the opposition parties and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party yesterday.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemned the move and claimed that the move “defies logic except the fascist kind”.

Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad said, “Fascism thrives on crushing dissent, particularly from intellectuals, artists, writers, poets & activists. BJP manufacture crises daily to distract and overwhelm dissenters enabling them to divert attention from their failures. This assault on free expression & democratic values is unacceptable,” Hariprasad posted on X.

BJP hit back at Congress for allegedly being empathetic towards “separatist and terrorist organisations”.

“Delhi LG approves prosecution of Arundhati Roy under UAPA. Why is the Congress ecosystem rattled? First, they support & take support from SDPI and now they cry for separatists. Does it not believe Kashmir is an integral part of Bharat?” Shehzad Poonawalla wrote on X.