Statements Against the J&K Book Ban Order
August 2025 | IAFN, PUCL, PUDR, FIDH & Others
IAFN Statement
India Academic Freedom Network (IAFN) strongly condemns the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Government’s order ‘forfeiting’, i.e. effectively banning, 25 books on the history of J&K and its politics, on the grounds that these books promote secessionism and incite violence. The order was issued on August 5, the sixth anniversary of the reading down of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and the demotion of J&K into a Union Territory (UT), followed by an internet lockdown that lasted from August 2019 to February 2021; the arrest of hundreds of students, journalists and others; and the banning of several civil society organisations…
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PUCL Statement
The PUCL is outraged at the decision by the Jammu and Kashmir Government to forfeit 25 books in an omnibus order under Section 98 of the BNSS, basing its order on the unsubstantiated opinion that all the books are “playing a critical role in misguiding the youth, glorifying terrorism and inciting violence against Indian State”.
When a mass and arbitrary forfeiture of 25 books on Kashmir traversing different genres is ordered, one can only conclude that such a notification is an arbitrary and brute exercise of power by the state uncanalised by the discipline of the Constitution….
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PUDR Statement
On 05 August 2025, by order of the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, 25 books were declared to be “forfeited” in terms of Section 98 BNSS, the new criminal procedure code. 5 August marks the 6th anniversary of the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution and the “book ban” order came at a time when the National Book Trust, India was organizing the Chinar Book Festival in Srinagar.
A ban on books, ideas, narratives, documentation efforts must be opposed and the courts have the power to strike down such orders on the strength of the Constitutional jurisprudence thus far developed – whether in the context of books or speech….
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FIDH Statement
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, together with the undersigned organisations, condemn India’s ban on 25 scholarly and journalistic books on Kashmir as an unlawful attack on freedom of expression. They call on the Indian authorities to revoke the ban immediately, end misuse of security laws to suppress scholarship, and uphold international obligations protecting academic freedom and the right to information…