Delhi LG sanctions prosecution of Arundhati Roy, Showkat Hussain for “provocative speeches”

New Delhi: Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena has accorded sanction for the prosecution of writer Arundhati Roy and former Kashmir professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain in a 2010 case of alleged provocative speeches, sources in the LG Office said on Tuesday.
Saxena gave the sanction under section 196 (prosecution for offences against the state) of CrPC in the case lodged in November 2010 related to the duo allegedly delivering provocative speeches at a public function in the national capital,
Sources said a prima facie case was made out against Roy and Hussain for the commission of offence under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) and 505 (making or circulating false statements, rumors, or information with specific intent) of Indian Penal Code for their speeches at a public function in Delhi.
Sushil Pandit, a social activist from Kashmir, had filed a complaint on October 28, 2010, at Police Station Tilak Marg, against various persons/speakers “involved in delivering provocative speeches” in public at the conference organised by ‘Committee for release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) under the banner of “Azadi – The only Way”, on October 2, 2010.
The complainant had alleged that the speeches were provocative in nature. Pandit thereafter filed a complaint under section 156(3)(magisterial investigation) of CrPC before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, Sources in the LG office said.
The FIR in the matter was registered on November 29, 2010, on the directions of the Metropolitan Magistrate through an order dated November 27, 2010.
The statements of some of the speakers during the conference were mentioned by Pandit in his complaint dated October 28, 2010, the sources said. UNI