Arundhati Roy To Be Prosecuted Under Anti-Terror Law. Who is She?

New Delhi: Noted author Arundhati Roy would be prosecuted under the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has accorded sanction to prosecute author Arundhati Roy and a former professor in Kashmir under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly making provocative speeches at an event here in 2010, Raj Niwas officials said on Friday.

The FIR against Roy and former Central University of Kashmir professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain was registered following the orders of the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, they added.

There was no immediate reaction from Roy and Hussain.

The FIR in the matter was registered on a complaint made by Sushil Pandit, a social activist from Kashmir, on October 28, 2010.

"Delhi Lt Governor VK Saxena has sanctioned the prosecution of Arundhati Roy and former Professor of International Law in Central University of Kashmir, Dr. Sheikh Showkat Hussain, under section 45 (1) of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the case," a Raj Niwas official said on Friday.

Last October, the LG had granted sanction to prosecute them under section 196 of CrPC for commission of offences punishable under different sections of the Indian Penal Code: 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief).

Roy and Hussain had allegedly made provocative speeches at a conference organised under the banner of 'Azadi - The Only Way' on October 21, 2010 at LTG Auditorium, Copernicus Marg, here.

"The issues discussed and spoken about at the conference propagated the separation of Kashmir from India," said the official.

Those who delivered speeches at the conference included Syed Ali Shah Geelani, SAR Geelani (anchor of the Conference and prime accused in the Parliament attack case), Arundhati Roy, Dr. Sheikh Showkat Hussain and Varavara Rao.

The complainant filed a complaint under Section 156(3) of CrPC before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court, New Delhi, who disposed the complaint on November 27, 2010 with the directions to register an FIR.

Accordingly, an FIR was registered and investigation was carried out, they said.
 

Who is Arundhati Roy?

- Born on November 24, 1961, Suzanna Arundhati Roy  an Indian author best known for her novel The God of Small Things, which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997. With this win, Roy's book became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. 

- Roy is a known political activist involved in human rights and environmental causes

- Roy is known to be controversy's favourite child. She is a supporter of far-left politics. in an interview with a national daily in the year 2008, she expressed her support for independence of Kashmir from India. 

-She was charged with sedition along with separatist Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others by Delhi Police for their "anti-India" speech at a 2010 convention on Kashmir: “Azadi: The Only Way”

-Roy has campaigned along with activist Medha Patkar against the Narmada dam project, saying that the dam will displace half a million people with little or no compensation, and will not provide the projected irrigation, drinking water, and other benefits.

- She also came into limelight for her statements on the 2001 parliamentary attack. She claimed that  Mohammad Afzal Guru was being scapegoated. She pointed fingers ra the judicial and investigative process in the case. (With inputs from PTI)