Delhi-LG approves Arundhati Roy's prosecution under stringent UAPA over 2010 'provocative' speech

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has approved the prosecution of author and Man Booker prize winner Arundhati Roy under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly making 'provocative' speeches at a conference organized under the banner 'Azadi-the Only Way' in 2010.

Along with Roy, former professor of International Law at the Central University of Kashmir, Dr. Sheikh Showkat Hussain has also been booked under the same law.

On October 28, 2010, an FIR (First Information Report) was registered following an order of a Metropolitan Magistrate court in New Delhi, based on a complaint made by Sushil Pandit, a social activist from Kashmir.

In the FIR, it was alleged that Roy and other speakers at the conference delivered provocative speeches where Roy strongly propagated that Kashmir was never a part of India and was forcibly occupied by the Armed Forces of India.

Delhi-LG authorized the prosecution in October 2023, while mentioning there is a prima facie case against Roy and Hussain under section 196 of the CrPC for the commission of offences punishable under different sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 153A, 153B, and 505. These sections pertain to 153A which pertains to promoting enmity between different groups based on religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, assertions prejudicial to national integration, and intentional insults conducing to public mischief, respectively.

Apart from Roy and Hussain, others who were part of the event included the Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, former Delhi University lecturer SAR Geelani, who was acquitted in the Parliament attack case, and activist Varavara Rao. All three died as the case progressed.