The Salman Rushdie episode came back to haunt the Jaipur Literature Festival organisers and four authors on Monday with two city courts here initiating proceedings on different complaints alleging that they had hurt religious sentiments of Muslims by making references to the banned novel, The Satanic Verses.
Five complaints have been filed in different courts here seeking initiation of criminal proceedings against JLF organiser Sanjoy Roy and authors Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi for, inter alia , “conspiring to promote enmity on grounds of religion”. The four authors had read aloud excerpts from the novel at the recent festival.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Rajendra Saini recorded statements of complainant Mohammed Naimuddin to decide if the case merits being sent to the police for registration of a First Information Report. The case was posted for further hearing on March 8.
Another magistrate took up the complaint of Daulat Khan and decided to examine its veracity under Section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The court asked the complainant to be present on Tuesday for getting his statements recorded.
The hearing on two other complaints was adjourned to March 13 for different reasons.
Other complainants are Nasir Zahid, Wasim Khan and Mohammed Hussain. Most of the people who have moved the courts are office-bearers of Muslim Mahasabha which took exception to Mr. Rushdie being invited to the literary carnival and later protested against his planned address via a video-link.
The complaints alleged that Mr. Kunzru and Mr. Kumar had even tweeted before reading from the banned book on January 20 to protest cancellation of Mr. Rushdie's visit. Their act showed that the organisers and authors had “conspired to deliberately hurt the religious sentiments of Muslim community,” stated Mr. Naimuddin's complaint.
The courts were told that the organisers had helped the authors to escape from Jaipur when reports surfaced that the police had received complaints against them for reading from the novel. The book was banned in India by the then Congress-led regime in 1988.
The complaints have sought registration of FIRs against the individuals named therein under Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings), 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion), 153-B (imputations prejudicial to national integration) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
On a complaint filed under Section 190 of Cr.PC, the court can either order the police to register an FIR and launch investigation, or examine on its own the complainant and witnesses, if any, before deciding if the matter deserves to be sent to the police for registration of FIR. In the instant case, the courts here have adopted the latter course of action.
