Full Bench Formed to Hear Pleas Contesting Ban on 25 Books in Jammu Kashmir

SRINAGAR: The High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has constituted a full bench to hear a series of petitions challenging the government’s controversial order forfeiting 25 books alleged to propagate “false and secessionist narratives” about the region. The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Arun Palli and comprising Justices Rajnesh Oswal and Shahzad Azeem, is set to begin hearing the batch of petitions from Monday, stepping in after the Supreme Court declined to intervene and directed petitioners to approach the High Court as the appropriate forum.

The forfeiture order, issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Home Department on August 5, 2025 under Section 95 CrPC and Section 98 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), declared the listed publications banned and subject to seizure nationwide. The government maintains the books in question contribute to radicalisation, distort history, and undermine India’s sovereignty, justifying broad search and confiscation powers for the police. High-profile petitioners include journalist David Devadas; CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami; retired Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak; advocate Shakir Shabir; academic Sumantra Bose; and rights activist Dr Radha Kumar, among others.

The petitioners argue that the ban is a sweeping attack on freedom of expression and academic inquiry, lacking reasoned justification and failing to identify specific passages that incite secessionism as claimed. They contend the notification merely parrots the statute’s language and offers no concrete grounds, a critical failure under constitutional and statutory law. Noting legal precedent from the Supreme Court, the petitions insist such bans must be backed by well-articulated reasons and a careful reading of the works as a whole, not arbitrary or selective citations.

Petitioners have also sought interim relief, including an immediate stay on the order’s operation to prevent irreparable loss—arguing seized books could be permanently erased from circulation before the case is resolved. The decision of the full bench is expected to have significant implications for the limits of government censorship and the defence of civil liberties in Jammu and Kashmir.