Institute of Legal and Management Studies

The Supreme Court today dismissed a public interest litigation seeking ban on Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie's book “The Satanic Verses”.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order on a PIL claiming that the book was blasphemous and violative of Article 19(2) of the Constitution.

The bench orally remarked that by way of the writ petition, the petitioners were indirectly challenging the order of the Delhi High Court which lifted the ban on the book. "At present, there is no live notification", commented Justice Mehta.

According to the petitioners, the book contained several passages "derogatory" to Prophet Muhammad which offended the religious sentiments of Muslims. "The author has also narrated derogatory and vile statements about the Hindu God, Lord Ganesh, in one of the dream sequences, which is highly objectionable", the plea stated.

The petitioners further claimed that the book was available for purchase in local Mumbai shops and across commercial platforms like Flipkart, and the sale became possible due to the Delhi High Court order which lifted the ban on it upon authorities' failure to produce the 1988 notification banning it.

In this regard, it was averred that the High Court ignored that the book was banned because of its blasphemous content and potential danger to public order.

It may be recalled that in November, 2024, the Delhi High Court disposed of a petition challenging the notification purportedly issued by authorities banning the book. It noted that the authorities, including the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, could not produce the notification since the filing of the petition way back in 2019.

“In the light of the aforesaid circumstances, we have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists, and therefore, we cannot examine the validity thereof and dispose of the writ petition as infructuous", the Court observed.

Case Title: MOHD. ARSHAD MOHD. JAMAL KHAN AND ORS. Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 915/2025