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Arundhati Roy, an Indian Author, may Face Prosecution for her Lecture on Kashmir in 2010

New Delhi administration approves legal action for Arundhati Roy's 2010 Kashmir speech.
on Oct 11, 2023

The New Delhi administration has given its approval for the case to be heard in court for allegedly supporting the separation of Kashmir from India.

According to reports, Booker Prize-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy may face prosecution over a 2010 speech criticising Indian-administered Kashmir after a high official approved the process.

Roy, 61, is one of India's most recognised living authors, but her work and activism, particularly her harsh criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's regime, have made her a divisive figure in the country.

A criminal lawsuit accusing her and several others of sedition had been pending in India's notoriously slow criminal court system since 2010.

However, Indian media claimed on Tuesday that VK Saxena, the top official in the administration that governs New Delhi, has given consent for the issue to be heard in court.

According to local media sources, Saxena's direction stated that there was adequate evidence for a case to be brought against Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, former professor of international law at Central University of Kashmir, "for their speeches at a public function" in the city.

The original complaint accused Roy and others of giving lectures pushing for Kashmir's separation from India, which rules the disputed region in part and claims it entirely, along with neighbouring Pakistan.

Kashmir is one of the most contentious issues in India, which has fought two wars and numerous skirmishes with Pakistan for control of the Himalayan province.

Since the outbreak of a rebellion against Indian control in 1989, tens of thousands of people, including Indian troops, fighters, and civilians, have been slain in Indian-administered Kashmir.

When her words from the panel discussion became public, protesters surrounded Roy's residence in New Delhi in 2010.

In the 13 years since the case was filed, two of her co-defendants, Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Delhi University lecturer Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani, have died.

In 1997, Roy became the first non-expat Indian to receive the coveted Booker Prize for her outstanding debut novel, The God of Small Things.

She is also recognised for her passionate essays on the condition of India's impoverished and dispossessed, which have periodically enraged the country's elite.

Her effort has elevated her to the ranks of high-profile critics of Modi's government, which has been accused by rights groups and others of criminalising campaigners and seeking to repress free expression.

According to Reporters Without Borders, "press freedom is in crisis" in India. from 2014, India has declined from 140 to 161 on the World Press Freedom Index, a drop of 11 places from last year.