SRINAGAR: The Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Monday refused to grant interim relief in petitions challenging the Union Territory government’s decision to forfeit 25 books under Section 98 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for allegedly promoting secessionist narratives, as per Live Law.
A special three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli, Justice Rajnesh Oswal and Justice Shahzad Azeem declined interim relief but issued notice on the petitions. However, the bench refused to issue notice on a public interest litigation (PIL) concerning the matter, observing that it did not qualify as being in the “public interest” and that “90 percent of people would not understand the issue.”
The petitions contest an August 5 notification issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department, which declared the books — dealing with Kashmir’s political and social history as “forfeited” for allegedly propagating false narratives and secessionism. The notification, published in the official Gazette, invoked Section 98 BNSS, empowering the government to seize publications deemed prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India.
The petitioners, including Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Kapil Kak, author Dr Sumantra Bose, peace scholar Dr Radha Kumar, and former Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, argued that the order was arbitrary and lacked reasoned justification. They contended that the government failed to identify specific portions of the books that purportedly incited secessionism or justified forfeiture.
Citing the Supreme Court’s 1972 ruling in Narayan Das Indurakhya v. State of Madhya Pradesh, the petitioners maintained that merely reproducing statutory provisions without presenting underlying grounds does not fulfil the requirement of a reasoned order. They further relied on precedents such as Harnam Das v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Arun Ranjan Choudhury v. State of West Bengal, which stress that grounds for forfeiture must be based on the actual “import, effect, or tendency” of the publication.
The government, in its impugned notification, claimed that the “systematic dissemination of false narratives and secessionist literature” had contributed to youth radicalisation in Jammu and Kashmir by “glorifying terrorism, vilifying security forces, distorting historical facts, and promoting alienation.” It stated that such publications endangered India’s sovereignty and integrity, attracting provisions under Sections 152, 196, and 197 of the BNS.
The forfeited list includes works by noted authors and scholars such as Sumantra Bose, AG Noorani, Arundhati Roy, Seema Kazi, Hafsa Kanjwal, and Victoria Schofield, many of which are published by reputed international academic presses, including Oxford University Press, Stanford University Press, and Routledge.
