Did Amitava Kumar, Hari Kunzru and other authors who read passages from Salman Rushdie's
The Satanic Verses, which is banned in India, Friday evening at the Jaipur Literature Festival violate Indian law?
That has become a matter of much speculation and debate at the festival on Saturday. Late Friday night, organizers of the festival released a statement saying that they were not consulted before the writers read the passages and the readings were "not endorsed by the Festival or attributable to its organizers or anyone acting on their behalf."
By Saturday, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Kunzru were no longer at the festival, and Mr. Kumar appeared to be exiting the country. "I have left the building. In fact, I have been seated on the tarmac for hours," he said on Twitter early Saturday afternoon.
Some writers attending the festival criticized the festival organizers for not standing by Mr. Kumar, Mr. Kunzru and Ruchir Joshi and Jeet Thayil - two other speakers who also read passages from the banned book according to news reports.
In their statements, the organizers, who include William Dalrymple, Namita Gokhale and Sanjoy Roy, said the festival is not the venue for illegal conduct. "Our endeavor has always been to provide a platform to foster an exchange of ideas and the love of literature, strictly within the four corners of the law," the statement read. "We remain committed to this objective."
A senior official from the Rajasthan police said that no cases have been registered against the authors, neither has anyone been arrested.
To get a legal opinion on whether the readings constituted a violation of the law, India Ink spoke to Kavita Srivastava, the general secretary of the People's Union for Civil Liberties for Rajasthan State. She said the writers appear to have been reading from an article that was quoting "The Satanic Verses" and not the book itself, which suggests to her that they cannot be charged with a crime.
Here are excerpts of the interview with Ms. Srivastava:
Q. When Indian officials ban a book, what does that mean legally?
A. Legally, if a banned book is sold then the seller, the publisher all come under section 12 of the Press and Registration of Books act of 1867 where punishment is only six months. Definition of book includes volume or part of volume or template in any language or a sheet of music. And section 295(a) of the Indian Penal Code, which is about hurting religious sentiments, and the punishment is 3 years.
Q. What then does this mean for Amitava Kumar, Hari Kunzru and the other writers who read passages from "The Satanic Verses"?
A. I would say that as a writer you must have not any fear of cases and other things. We must not have any fear.
Q. Could festival organizers be held liable for their readings?
A. When a case is filed, it's in the investigation it would be known whether they were responsible or not. As far as I am concerned, as a civil liberties person, no law has been broken. As far as I am concerned, nobody has committed an offense. As far as the organizers being worried, I do think that they do have a right to be worried. I don't think there is any reason for them to worry.
Q. How would something like this proceed in the legal system?
A. If the police doesn't lodge a case, you can always go to a magistrate and have a case registered. But a first information report doesn't mean that a crime has occurred. There has to be an investigation.
Q. Do you think India is becoming less tolerant of views that do not conform to the mainstream?
A. Our cultural movements have to be stronger. We have to get them (people who disagree with us) to understand. We cannot turn around and do a case on them. Culturally we have to be stronger.