The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has constituted a three-judge Full Bench to hear a batch of petitions challenging the government’s order banning 25 books for allegedly propagating “false and secessionist narratives.”
The Bench, headed by the Chief Justice and comprising Justices Rajnesh Oswal and Shahzad Azeem, will hear the matter on Monday.
The decision was made after the court’s previous ruling, where it had agreed to consider setting up a three-judge bench to examine the legality of what the petitioners alleged was a “sweeping and unreasoned forfeiture” of the books.
The petitioners also believed that books were an important part of Kashmir’s history, and some of the books provide critical insights into some of the pressing issues in the UT.
The petitions, filed separately by journalist David Devadas, CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, retired Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, advocate Shakir Shabir, and Swastik Singh, challenge the Home Department’s notification ordering the forfeiture of the publications under Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
The petitioners claim that the government’s order violates the constitutional guarantee of free speech and expression and lacks any reasoned, thoughtful and acceptable justification.
On August 5, 2025, the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department banned the publication and sale of 25 books, including works by authors like Arundhati Roy and A. G. Noorani, saying they propagate “secessionism.”
However, there has been no clarification issued on how and to what extent these books promote what they claim.
The list also includes political commentaries and historical accounts such as The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 by noted constitutional expert Noorani, Kashmir at the Crossroads and Contested Lands by Sumantra Bose, In Search of a Future: The Kashmir Story by David Devadas, Roy’s Azadi and A Dismantled State:
The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 by journalist Anuradha Bhasin.
It’s unclear whether the proposed ban has had any effects on the sale and purchase of these legally contested books ever since. Yet there are apprehensions that the ban would further invoke the interest of the people in reading these books.
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