NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed a long-running case challenging the alleged 1988 ban on importing Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel, The Satanic Verses. The case was closed after customs authorities failed to produce any record of the notification that purportedly enforced the ban.A division bench, comprising Justice Rekha Palli and Justice Saurabh Banerjee, observed that despite extensive efforts to retrieve the notification, no evidence of its existence could be found.The case was filed in 2019 by petitioner Sandipan Khan, who sought clarification and relief from the ban, arguing that it restricted his right to access and import the book from publishers or international online sellers. Since the petition’s filing, neither the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) nor any other relevant agency was able to provide a copy of the notification that was allegedly issued under the Customs Act, 1962.”In light of the aforesaid circumstances, we have no other option except to presume that no such notification exists, and therefore, we cannot examine the validity thereof and dispose of the writ petition as infructuous,” the Court stated in its ruling.
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