The Jammu and Kashmir government has officially issued a notice stating that 25 books written by renowned Indian and foreign authors are forfeited under the newly enacted Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, on the grounds of “false narratives” and secessionism and alleged promotion of terrorism.
The order, under Notification S.O. 203 of the Home Department of Jammu and Kashmir, invokes Section 98 of the BNSS, which grants the state the authority to confiscate publications that pose a threat to sovereignty, public order, or national security. Principal Secretary has signed the notification to the Home Department, Chandraker Bharti, and it contains a comprehensive list of titles and authors under Annexure A.
Banned books are those of popular public intellectuals like Arundhati Roy (Azadi), A.G. Noorani (The Kashmir Dispute: 1947–2012), Sumantra Bose, David Devadas, Anuradha Bhasin, and Victoria Schofield. The books critically analyse the history, politics, and conflict in Kashmir, with the government contending that they falsify historical facts, romanticise terrorism, demonise security forces, and incite radicalisation among youth.
As per the official notification, the government feels that these titles promote disaffection, foster a separatist ideology, and have the potential to destabilise peace in the region. These books may now face penalties of three years to life imprisonment under applicable provisions of the BNS.
The action has sparked a storm of denunciation from civil liberties organisations, scholars, and politicians, who call it an overreaching effort to suppress voices of dissent and cleanse the public discourse around Kashmir. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a senior Kashmiri leader, condemned the ban as “deeply authoritarian” and stated that it tries to “rewrite Kashmir’s memory by silencing its chroniclers.”
Legal experts are also divided. Some hold that the government is entitled to regulate material that threatens national unity, while others are concerned that the wide wording of the notification is likely to be exploited to muzzle legitimate academic research and journalistic investigation.
This is not the first time that Kashmiri literature has faced suspicion. In recent years, government officials have entered bookstores, taken away Islamic works linked to outlawed groups, and inspected educational materials for “anti-national sentiments.”
