Islamabad, 12 Oct 2023:Prominent Indian author Arundhati Roy and renowned Kashmiri intellectual Sheikh Showkat Hussain are facing legal challenges from the Indian government, following approval of sanction for their prosecution relating to a case from 2010, according to a press release from Kashmir Media Service (KMS). Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sanctioned the charges, which fall under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including sedition. This legal move is related to their speeches at the “Azadi – The Only Way” Kashmir Conference in Delhi on October 21, 2010, where they and other speakers asserted that Jammu and Kashmir were forcibly occupied by Indian Armed Forces and advocated for the region’s independence from India.

The 2010 Conference, organized by the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), presented several speeches, including those by Roy, that maintained Jammu and Kashmir were never a part of India and underscored that efforts should be pursued towards its independence. The complaint, lodged by Sushil Pandit, alleged that the speakers called for the “separation of Kashmir from India.”

Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyat leader, Syed Ali Gilani Shaheed, and distinguished Kashmiri intellectual Syed Abdul Rahman Gilani, were also charged in connection with the case, but both have since passed away. It is pertinent to note that Arundhati Roy, an outspoken critic of the Modi regime’s policies concerning minorities in India and Muslims in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, was awarded the Booker Prize for her debut novel “The God of Small Things” in 1997. She has also been recognized for her fervent essays highlighting the challenges faced by the underprivileged and dispossessed in India, which have stirred controversy among the nation’s elite.