“Arundhati Roy was born in Shillong, Meghalaya, India,[7] to Mary Roy, a Malayali Jacobite Syrian Christian women’s rights activist from Kerala and Rajib Roy, a Bengali Brahmo Samaji[8] tea plantation manager from Kolkata.[9] She has denied false rumors about her being a Brahmin by caste.[8] When she was two, her parents divorced and she returned to Kerala with her mother and brother.[9] For some time, the family lived with Roy’s maternal grandfather in Ooty, Tamil Nadu…” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arundhati_Roy
“Opposition Leaders, Writers Back Arundhati Roy After Author’s Prosecution Under UAPA” Story by Times Now Digital https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/India/opposition-leaders-writers-back-arundhati-roy-after-author-s-prosecution-under-uapa/ar-BB1oknBZ
“The decision to invoke India’s controversial terrorism provision against one of the ruling party’s most outspoken — and internationally renowned — critics comes just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in for a third term, and it has been widely viewed as a signal of strength emanating from Modi’s camp.” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/india-says-novelist-arundhati-roy-could-be-tried-under-anti-terrorism-law/ar-BB1ohmTl
It’s unclear why this was apparently approved last October and again being approved. Maybe because it’s a new government or different levels of government:
“India to Prosecute Author and Activist Roy for 2010 Speech
October 11, 2023 2:22 PM By VOA News
Award-winning Indian author Arundhati Roy is facing prosecution after giving a speech 13 years ago, disputing the idea that Kashmir is an integral part of India.
The initial complaint was filed by a Kashmir activist following Roy’s speech in 2010, in which she and three others spoke at a conference and criticized India’s policy toward Kashmir.
Under Indian law, crimes of hate speech, sedition, and promoting enmity need approval from Indian officials to be prosecuted. That approval was given Wednesday, according to local media — more than a decade after the initial report was filed.
Delhi police now have permission to prosecute Roy and Central University of Kashmir professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain, under crimes of promoting enmity and making assertions prejudicial to national integration and causing public mischief, a move approved by federally-appointed lieutenant-governor, Vinai Kumar Saxena.
The other speakers named in the 2010 complaint, one a professor and the other a Kashmiri separatist leader, have since died.
Reasoning for why Saxena approved prosecution 13 years after the complaint was filed was not given in the report.
Roy, 61, a political activist as well as the 1997 Booker prize winner for fiction, has not provided a reaction to the recent developments.
The decision has faced disapproval from those opposing the current administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who came to power in 2014, and has since drawn criticism for its record on free speech.
Prosecuting the 2010 complaint has furthered some concerns over the current government’s free speech stances, despite the complaint being registered before Modi’s administration came to power.
“It is obvious that the LG [and his masters] have no place in their regime for tolerance or forbearance; or for that matter the essentials of democracy,” P. Chidambaram, a senior leader of the main opposition Congress party who was India’s home (interior) minister in 2010, posted on X. LG refers to Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena.
Some information in this report was taken from Reuters. “ https://web.archive.org/web/20231025163633/https://www.voanews.com/a/india-to-prosecute-author-and-activist-roy-for-2010-speech-/7306635.html
For those interested in legal details: “Delhi LG’s sanction for Arundhati Roy’s prosecution under UAPA is legally vulnerable: The sanction appears to have been granted without proper application of mind, as the police investigation itself is nowhere near completion”. Published : Jun 16, 2024 08:56 IST – 7 MINS READ BY V. VENKATESAN https://frontline.thehindu.com/columns/delhi-lg-sanction-for-arundhati-roy-prosecution-under-uapa-legal-issues/article68295917.ece
Mining Awareness + 