India's three-decade-long ban on Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses has effectively been lifted after the Delhi High Court ruled that the Indian government could not produce the original notification imposing the ban. The 1988 ban, which was implemented after some Muslim groups deemed the book blasphemous, had restricted the importation and sale of the novel in India.

The court order, issued on November 5, came after a 2019 petition challenging the ban. The petitioner, Sandipan Khan, had argued that the government could not provide any official documentation of the original ban order. During the proceedings, the government admitted that it could not trace the notification, leading the court to conclude that "no such notification exists." As a result, the court ruled that the ban had been lifted.

Khan, who had been informed by bookstores that The Satanic Verses was prohibited, searched for the official ban order but found no record on government websites. The court found that even the customs official who supposedly drafted the order was unable to produce a copy.

Rushdie’s novel, published in 1988, sparked worldwide protests, especially in the Muslim world, over its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, leading to book burnings and violent demonstrations. In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death, forcing the author into hiding for several years.

The lifting of the ban comes amid continuing controversy surrounding The Satanic Verses, and follows an attack on Rushdie in 2022, when he was stabbed during a public lecture in New York, leaving him with severe injuries. The ruling marks a significant shift in the decades-long legal and cultural battle surrounding the book in India.

India's three-decade-long ban on Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses has effectively been lifted after the Delhi High Court ruled that the Indian government could not produce the original notification imposing the ban. The 1988 ban, which was implemented after some Muslim groups deemed the book blasphemous, had restricted the importation and sale of the novel in India.

The court order, issued on November 5, came after a 2019 petition challenging the ban. The petitioner, Sandipan Khan, had argued that the government could not provide any official documentation of the original ban order. During the proceedings, the government admitted that it could not trace the notification, leading the court to conclude that "no such notification exists." As a result, the court ruled that the ban had been lifted.

Khan, who had been informed by bookstores that The Satanic Verses was prohibited, searched for the official ban order but found no record on government websites. The court found that even the customs official who supposedly drafted the order was unable to produce a copy.

Rushdie’s novel, published in 1988, sparked worldwide protests, especially in the Muslim world, over its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, leading to book burnings and violent demonstrations. In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death, forcing the author into hiding for several years.

The lifting of the ban comes amid continuing controversy surrounding The Satanic Verses, and follows an attack on Rushdie in 2022, when he was stabbed during a public lecture in New York, leaving him with severe injuries. The ruling marks a significant shift in the decades-long legal and cultural battle surrounding the book in India.