J&K Police Raid Bookstores After 25 Books Banned

• Police raided bookstores and a book festival across Kashmir to seize 25 books banned by the Jammu and Kashmir government.
• The government, led by Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha, claims the books propagate “false narratives and secessionism” and “terrorism.”
• The list of banned books includes works by renowned authors and historians, such as Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, AG Noorani, and Victoria Schofield.

GG News Bureau
Srinagar, 8th Aug: Police in Jammu and Kashmir today conducted widespread raids on bookstores across the region, including at a book festival in Srinagar, to enforce a ban on 25 books. The ban, issued by the J&K Home department under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, targets books by acclaimed writers and historians, which the government claims “propagates false narrative and secessionism and terrorism.”

The raids, carried out under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), saw policemen searching bookshops and seizing copies of the banned publications. The operation extended to the Chinar book festival in Srinagar, an event that was inaugurated by the Lt. Governor just last week.

In a statement, Srinagar Police confirmed the raids were in compliance with the government’s order. They said the objective was to “identify, seize, and forfeit any literature that propagates or systematically disseminates false narratives, promotes secessionist ideologies, or otherwise poses a threat to the Sovereignty and Unity of India.” The police affirmed their commitment to ensuring that no material “which endangers the Security or Integrity of the Nation is allowed to circulate.”

The list of banned publications includes “Azadi” by Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy, “The Kashmir dispute, 1947 -2012” by constitutional expert A.G. Noorani, and “Kashmir in Conflict” by British historian Victoria Schofield. Books by Sumantra Bose, Anuradha Bhasin, and other authors are also on the list. In a statement, journalist Anuradha Bhasin, whose book “The Dismantled State” was banned, challenged the government to prove that a single word in her book glorifies terrorism.

The government’s order, issued on Wednesday, said the ban was based on “credible intelligence about a systemic dissemination of false narratives and secessionist literature” and that the books “have been found to excite secessionism and endangering sovereignty and integrity of India.” The move has drawn criticism from authors and academics who view it as a crackdown on free speech.