Overview
- The Maharashtra Home Department published a gazette notification on August 6 declaring 114 publications, manuals and digital items forfeited under Section 98(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
- The notification names material linked to the Islamic State (including ISKP), Hizb‑ul‑Mujahideen (Pir Panjal Regiment) and Al‑Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent and lists propaganda magazines plus operational manuals on explosives, anonymity and weaponisation.
- State officials said the decision follows investigations, intelligence inputs and cyber surveillance by the Maharashtra Anti‑Terrorism Squad that found continued circulation, possession and dissemination of the listed material.
- Under the order police across India may seize physical or electronic copies of the listed items and magistrates may issue warrants authorising searches by officers not below the rank of sub‑inspector.
- Authorities say the move aims to curb recruitment and radicalisation by removing access to these texts, and reporting so far records the legal forfeiture and seizure powers but not mass arrests tied directly to the notification.