Delhi Lieutenant Governor (Delhi LG) grants approval to prosecute Arundhati Roy under UAPA for her ‘provocative’ speech at a 2010 event.
Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena, has granted approval for the prosecution of author Arundhati Roy under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for her alleged ‘provocative’ speech at an event in 2010, according to officials from Raj Niwas quoted by PTI on Friday.
“The Delhi Lieutenant Governor LG VK Saxena has sanctioned the prosecution of Roy and former Professor of International Law at Central University of Kashmir, Dr. Sheikh Showkat Hussain, under section 45 (1) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,” a Raj Niwas official stated.
Last October, Saxena had previously authorized the prosecution of Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain under section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) for offenses punishable under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
“The discussions and speeches delivered at the conference advocated for the separation of Kashmir from India,” the Raj Niwas official remarked. Apart from Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, other speakers included the late Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, SAR Geelani (the conference’s organizer and a key figure in the Parliament attack case), and Varavara Rao.
The complaint was lodged by Sushil Pandit, a Kashmiri activist, under Section 156(3) of the CrPC before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in New Delhi. The court disposed of the complaint on November 27, 2010, instructing the registration of an FIR. The complaint alleged that both Geelani and Arundhati Roy strongly advocated that Kashmir was never a part of India and had been forcibly occupied by Indian Armed Forces. The complainant provided recordings of the speeches as evidence. Subsequently, an FIR was filed, and an investigation ensued, as confirmed by officials.
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