NEW DELHI: Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Friday gave his nod to prosecute author-activist Arundhati Roy and Sheikh Showkat Hussain, former professor of the Central University of Kashmir, under the stringent UAPA in connection with a 2010 FIR, which accused the duo of “delivering provocative speeches in public”.
Roy and Hussain had allegedly called for an independent Kashmir at a conference organised under the banner of ‘Azadi — The Only Way’ on October 21, 2010 at LTG Auditorium in Delhi. The major topic of discussion was “separation of Kashmir from India”, Raj Niwas officials said on Friday.
Last October, Saxena had granted prosecution of the duo in the same case under Section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under different sections of IPC.
The case against the two was registered after a police complaint lodged by a Kashmiri social activist Sushil Pandit. He also filed a complaint before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi.
An FIR was registered on November 29, 2010 in which Roy, Hussain, Kashmiri separatist leader Sayed Ali Shah Geelani, and former Delhi University professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani were booked for the offences of sedition, promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc with imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration. They were also charged with the act aimed at public mischief.
However, Sayed Ali Shah Geelani and Abdul Rahman Geelani passed away during the pendency of the case.