Overview

• The J&K Home Department used Section 98 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 to declare 25 books forfeited for allegedly promoting secessionism and violence.
• Authorities have conducted raids and inspections at bookstores and the Srinagar Book Festival to confiscate works by prominent authors including Arundhati Roy, A G Noorani, Sumantra Bose, and Anuradha Bhasin.
• Official statements cite investigations and intelligence indicating the banned titles play a role in radicalizing youth through false narratives and glorification of terrorism.
• Authors and civil society members have condemned the ban as a politically motivated crackdown on dissent and are mobilizing legal action to overturn the order.
• The move represents the latest escalation in controls on critical narratives in Kashmir after the revocation of the region’s special status in 2019 and the introduction of the BNSS in 2023.