Delhi L-G greenlights Arundhati Roy's prosecution for 2010 Kashmir remark
Delhi Lieutenant Governor (L-G) VK Saxena on Tuesday sanctioned the prosecution of author Arundhati Roy and one Sheikh Showkat Hussain in a 2010 hate speech case filed over their remarks on Kashmir, IANS reported. Social activist Sushil Pandit and Roots In Kashmir—a Kashmiri Pandit group—filed the complaint accusing them of making anti-India statements during the "Azadi: The Only Way" seminar in Delhi in 2010.
About the charges against Roy, Hussain
Roy is a writer and political activist, while Hussain is a former International Law professor at the Central University of Kashmir. Hussain also served as Kashmir Law College's principal until he was terminated in 2022. They were booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 505 (statements inciting public mischief).
SC put all trials regarding sedition charges on hold
Saxena didn't approve the prosecution of the duo under IPC Section 124A (sedition) since the Supreme Court in 2022 directed all pending trials concerning sedition charges be kept in abeyance. Per Section 196(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a valid sanction from the state government is required for the prosecution of charges like hate speech, hurting religious sentiments, and sedition, among others.
2 other accused died in pendency
The 2010 seminar was organized by the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). Complaints alleged the accused called for Kashmir's secession from India. To note, two other accused in the case, one Syed Ali Shah Geelani and former Delhi University lecturer Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, died before the sanction. The SC, in 2005, acquitted the latter in the 2001 Parliament attack case
