Nod to prosecute Arundhati Roy under UAPA ‘misuse of power’: Sharad Pawar

Besides Roy, Saxena on 15 June also gave the green signal for action under UAPA against former Central University of Kashmir professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain. Roy, a Booker Prize-winning author, and Hussain had been named in an FIR registered on 28 October 2010.

Related: Author Arundhati Roy to be prosecuted under UAPA after sanction from Delhi LG: Officials

The two had allegedly made provocative speeches at a conference organised under the banner of ‘Azadi – The Only Way’ on 21 October 2010, in New Delhi. “The issues discussed and spoken about at the conference propagated the separation of Kashmir from India,” an official said on Friday.

Last October, the LG had granted sanction to prosecute them under section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under different sections of the Indian Penal Code: 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).

Those who delivered speeches at the conference included Syed Ali Shah Geelani, SAR Geelani (anchor of the conference and prime accused in the Parliament attack case), Roy, Hussain and Telugu poet and Varavara Rao.

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