The notification issued by the Union Territory’s Home Department on August 5, 2025 was unprecedented and sweeping in more ways than one. It included scholarly and rigorously  researched books by a range of academics and writers from across the globe, including the noted  constitutional scholar, the late A G Noorani, the writer Arundhati Roy, academics Sumantra Bose, Christopher Snedden and Victoria Schofield and journalist and editor Anuradha Bhasin. Books edited by researchers, activists and intellectuals of calibre such as Essar Batool, Tariq Ali, Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal,  Angana Chatterjee, etc, have also been prohibited.

The books have been in circulation for several years. For instance, “Kashmir Politics and Plebiscite” by Dr Abdul Jabbar Gockhami was published in 2011, “The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012” by A G Noorani in 2014, while “A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370” by Anuradha Bhasin was published in 2022 and “Colonizing Kashmir: State-building under Indian Occupation” by Hafza Kanjwal was published in 2023.

The religious-political text ‘Al Jihad Fil Islam’, by the Islamic scholar and founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Maulana Maududi, on the concept of jihad in Islam was published in 1927, while “Mujahid Ki Azan”, another Urdu book by Hasan Al Banna Shaheed, was published in 2006 and is out of stock.

But whether or not the books are out of stock is immaterial, as mere possession is outlawed. A day after the notification,  the Anantnag police scoured stationery shops for the books but there is no information as to whether any of the offending publications were located and seized. In February 2025, six years after the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir, police had raided bookstores and seized around 600 books, mostly Islamic literature, though there was no official notification on their forfeiture.

The recent notification, issued  under Section 98 of the Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, grants powers to the State Government to declare certain publications forfeited and to issue search-warrants for them, if they violate Section 152 (acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India), Section 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), Section 197 (imputations and   assertions prejudicial to national integration and harming national unity), Section 294 and Section 295 (obscenity), Section 299 (acts outraging religious feelings) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023.

The notification itself provides little evidence of the precise violations of Section 98 of the BNSS or of the multiple sections of the BNS by which books can be banned or forfeited. Instead, the notification is replete with terms that find no place in actual law. For instances, the notification says the banned literature propagates false narratives, giving no instances or examples of these narratives and why they are considered false.

The letter and spirit of the law (however flawed its application) is practically drowned in a discourse of the most fantastical language of condemnation, the more wild, unreasonable and irrational, the better.

By what stretch of imagination are books by such scholars like Noorani or Anuradha Bhasin or Arundhati Roy or Essar Batool or any others named in the notification even remotely obscene? How are these books, primarily words that convey ideas, historical facts and analysis “acts” that endanger the sovereignty and unity of India? How do they promote enmity between communities or endanger national harmony? There are no clues in the notification.

For the authors or the publishers of the books, the only recourse would be under Section 99 of the BNSS, which gives them two months to apply to the High Court to set aside the declaration of forfeiture. A special three-judge bench of the High Court will be convened to consider the applications.  Till then, the sale and possession of the books will be considered a crime.

Misplaced “concern” for youth

Betraying a staunchly paternalistic tone towards youth of the former state, the notification goes on to say that a significant driver behind youth participation in violence and terrorism is “the systematic dissemination of false narratives and secessionist literature by its persistent internal circulation disguised as historical and political commentary”. Why is it internal, when most of the more popular books are freely available, online and offline and what is disguised about the commentary – the notification doesn’t bother to say.

Reiterating the state government’s “concern” for the youth of Kashmir, the notification further says that  the books are responsible for “misguiding youth, glorifying terrorism and inciting violence against the Indian State”. The last is a serious charge but, again, there is scant detail on any of these 25 books.

Notwithstanding its avowed concern for youth, the notification also slams them, stating that these 25 books promote a “culture of grievance, victimhood and terrorist heroism.”

Ironically, it is also perhaps the first official acknowledgment of the “alienation” of the youth of Jammu and Kashmir, who are today bearing the brunt of decades of conflict and a history passed down, not only through books, but by shared accounts of  successive generations of more than 75 years of living in an area of militarized strife.

Far from book bans, what really ought to concern the government of Jammu and Kashmir is unemployment, poor healthcare (including for mental health) and education. In all these spheres, the undisputed data itself starkly tells the true story of the youth in Kashmir.

Official data on Kashmiri youth pegs unemployment at 17.4 per cent, far above the national average of 10.2%. According to the Baseline Survey Report 2024-25 under Mission YUVA (Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan), which cited the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2023-24, the overall unemployment rate in J & K is 6.7%, nearly double the national average of 3.5%. According to the report, released by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in June this year, women face even steeper barriers, with urban female unemployment recorded at 28.6%.

Studies on the condition of mental health in the population, given the prolonged conflict, are also cause for alarm. An epidemiological study, conducted in 2024, of psychiatric disorders in Kashmir, observed that 11.3% of the adult population suffered from mental illness in the valley. As compared to males (8.4%), there was a higher prevalence among females(12.9%). Depressive disorders (8.4%) were the most common psychiatric disorders, followed by anxiety disorders (5.1%).

What would be the effect of such arbitrary and repressive acts on an already beleaguered population?

 

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Erasure of history and the fear of recollection

 The ban on books comes a day after the 6th anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in August  2019. Scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, the Union Government has aggressively pushed for its “naya Kashmir “project and multiple erasures of lived histories and experiences have marked the last six years.

While newspapers mirrored the government-led normalcy, a deafening silence has prevailed, first due to the unprecedented communications blockade that lasted till 2021 and then due to the crackdown on journalists, lawyers, human rights activists, academics and political party members. There have been police summons and detentions, disembarking of journalists flying out of the country for legitimate professional work, suspension and withdrawal of passports and no-fly lists.

While the invisibilising of everyday accounts has become the norm, the digital erasure of archives of published accounts of multiple journalists has been a chilling feature of the toolkit for the new Kashmir. Heavily dependent on government advertising, the media in Kashmir put up little resistance to the mass deletion of their own archives. Independent journalists found that their social media accounts were also vulnerable, as content was taken down and accounts were blocked with impunity.

The censoring of universities and academic spaces is, of course, an all-India project. Conferences, talks, discussions and even film screenings on sensitive issues need prior permission, chapters in text books have been changed, historical accounts are dropped from the curriculum and teachers are under watch both in the classroom and for posts on their private social media accounts, as the experience of Prof. Tejaswini Desai of the Kolhapur Institute of Technology’s College of Engineering or of Prof.  Ali Khan Mahmudabad of Ashoka University reveal.

But the ‘K’ word occupies a special place as the recent development over the revised syllabus for MA in Political Science reveals. According to this report in Maktoob Media, the paper “DSE 17: Politics and Ethnic Conflicts in J&K,” including debates on state autonomy, self-determination, secessionist politics and factors of terrorism, was flagged by the Standing Committee (of the University) for its discourse on the Indian national identity, Hindu nationalism and Politics of anxiety. It had earlier been approved by the Academic Council and the Executive Council of the University.

In the face of all these official attempts to wipe our plural viewpoints, however reasoned and well-researched, the J & K government’s book ban is the most objectionable effort. The ban seeks to arbitrarily criminalise 25 books, casting them as the prime accused and convicting them before a fair trial. Though words have a way of escaping the bars of forfeiture and prohibition, unlike the prolonged jailing of academics, human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and students, the notification must go.

First Published on freespeechcollective.in

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CJI Dipak Misra/ Image Courtesy: DNA

With the rising number of cases of attacks on writers and the freedom of expression, this observation has been welcomed by a number of writers.

Activist and Malayalam editor in the National Book Trust Rubin D’Cruz said, “The Supreme Court’s observation on the petition to ban Meesa is a landmark statement on freedom of speech and expression. This comes on a continuation to the Chennai High Court order on writer Perumal Murgan’s case. It is a very reaffirming development in the present scenario where artists and intellectuals are being threatened and ridiculed.”

Konkani writer Damodar Mauzo, who was one of the names on the hit list of Sanatan Sanstha, and who has recently been given protection by the Goa police, said, “At a time when people are losing faith, this comes as a moral boost to the free thinking community, particularly the community of writers. I’m very happy with this judgement. Freedom of expression upheld by the Supreme Court. This will strengthen people’s faith in the Judiciary.”

Malayalam poet K Satchidanandan impressed on the importance of context. He said, “I am very happy to note that the Supreme Court has taken cognisance of the Writers’ unfettered freedom of expression, and taken a stand against the banning of books. It has also made a clear distinction between deliberate pornography and creative writing. A character’s s conversation in a novel cannot be read like a press statement by the author. And no reader is supposed to identify the writer with his characters as fiction is not autobiography. The language the characters use too depends on the narrative context and the background of the character. Hence the whole case is baseless and filed with the deliberate political intention to create divisions in the society. The publication of the book has been widely welcomed in Kerala though a few miscreants have burnt its copies. Most writers in Kerala are in solidarity with S. Hareesh.”

Kureepuzha Sreekumar, who is a Malayalam poet and who was also targeted by the RSS, had similar concern. He said, “Banning the works of any writer is an attack on their creative thoughts. As readers, we have the right to read whatever we want. At the same time, the reader also has the liberty to dislike the book if they want to. Let the people read the work and let them decide. If they don’t like they will stop reading his work. We should not jump into conclusions before reading it. The Supreme Court’s comment is welcomed. I congratulate the court’s decision to stand with the writer.”

K P Ramanunni is a Malayalam writer who has faced threats from Islamic fundamentalist groups. He donated his Sahitya Akademi award prize money to Junaid Khan’s family. Sharing the enthusiasm of other authors, Ramanunni said, “The Supreme Court of India upholds our Constitution. As writers and artists we are indebted to this institution. It has always upheld the constitutional rights – freedom of speech and expression — especially for the writers. The Supreme Court’s stand on S Hareesh’s case is a very welcomed one. But I would also like to point this; it should also take a clear stand against the mob attacks on the writers. The mob in this country uses a third degree violence method to snub our rights. The court should bring out a law against legally and socially banning of a book.

If the final judgement comes in favour of writer S Hareesh, then it not only just a victory over a case of a writer, it’s a victory for the rationalists, journalists and intellectuals like Dabholkar, Kalburgi, Pansare and Gauri Lankesh, and for the values they stood for. They were murdered by the right wing fundamentalist group because they wanted to curb their freedom of expressions.”

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

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