The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court have constituted a Full Bench of three judges, in order to hear petitions challenging the order of the government to forfeit 25 books suspects of promoting “false narratives and secessionism.”
The High Court Bench, led by Chief Justice and accompanied by Justices Rajnesh Oswal and Shahzad Azeem, is planned to take up the matter further on Monday, October 13, 2025.
The progress follows a previous observation by the court on September 30, when the court have agreed to consider creating a Full Bench in order to examine the legality of what petitioners labelled as a “sweeping and unreasoned forfeiture” of books.
The petitioners include journalist David Devadas, CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, retired Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, advocate Shakir Shabir, Swastik Singh, and few others. They challenge the Home department’s notification under Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which ordered the penalty.
The petitioners claim that the action of the government violates the constitutional right to free speech and expression along with lacking any reasoned justification.
On August 5, the Home Department of Jammu & Kashmir banned the publication of 25 books, that includes works by authors such as Arundhati Roy and A G Noorani, mentioning their alleged propagation of secessionism.
The list also includes political comments and historical records from The Kashmir Dispute 1947-2012 by 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 Anuradha Bhasin.
Previously, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court challenging the ban, but then the apex court directed the petitioner to reach the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court for proceedings.
Ankur Mishra is a journalist who covers an extensive range of news, from business, stock markets, IPOs to geopolitics, world affairs, international crises, and general news. With over a decade of experience in the business domain, Ankur has been associated with some of the reputed media brands. Through a sharp eye on global marketplaces along with deep insights and analysis of business strategies, Ankur brings simplicity to the complex economic matrix to decode market trends and empower people.
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