New Delhi: Delhi lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena has accorded sanction for the prosecution of author Arundhati Roy and retired Kashmir professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain in connection with a 2010 case accusing them of making provocative speeches that called for separation of Kashmir from India.
In an official note, Saxena has noted that a prima facie case is made out against Roy and Hussain for the commission of offences under Sections 153A, 153B and 505 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for their speeches at a public function in the national capital. While Section 153A deals with offences pertaining to those promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, and residence, Section 153B relates to offences relating to imputations, and assertions prejudicial to national integration. Section 505 covers offences relating to making or circulation of false statements, rumours, or information with a specific intent to cause mutiny or fear among military personnel, inciting offences against the state or public tranquility.
The sanction from the Delhi LG was necessitated by the fact that initiating prosecution under Sections 153A and 153B requires prior sanction from the government. This is required before the trial, and not at the stage of the preliminary investigation.
The official note also clarifies that sanction has not been provided to prosecute the accused under sedition (Section 124A), one of the IPC sections mentioned in the FIR. However, a case under the section is made out, the note says.
The LG was constrained against giving sanction because the Supreme Court in a landmark ruling last year directed all pending trials, appeals, and proceedings with respect to charges framed under sedition be kept in abeyance.
The first information report (FIR) was registered on November 29, 2010 based on a complaint from Sushil Pandit, a social activist from Kashmir. The complainant said speakers at a conference organised by the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) under the banner of ‘Azadi – The Only Way’ on October 21, 2010 had delivered “provocative speeches”, which also called for “separation of Kashmir from India”. Pandit also said the speeches were provocative in nature, thus jeopardising public peace and security.
The complainant said Roy claimed that “Kashmir was never part of India and was forcibly occupied by the Armed Forces of India and every possible effort should be made for the independence of the State of Jammu & Kashmir from India”.
Two other accused in the case – Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a Kashmiri separatist leader and Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, a Delhi University lecturer who acquitted in parliament attack case – are dead.