Delhi L-G grants prosecution sanction against Arundhati Roy under UAPA in 2010 case

In October 2023, the Lt Governor granted sanction under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to prosecute the accused for the offences of promoting enmity between different groups and making statements to cause public mischief.

It was alleged that the accused had strongly propagated that Kashmir was never part of India and was forcibly occupied by the Indian Armed Forces and every possible effort should be made for the independence of the State of J&K from the State of India. While the Delhi Police had earlier sought prosecution sanction under IPC Sections 153A, 153B, 504, 505 and UAPA Section 13 against Roy and Hussain, the Lt Governor in October granted sanction only for the IPC sections.

Section 13 of the UAPA deals with punishment for unlawful activities for advocating, abetting or inciting any unlawful activity and is punishable with imprisonment up to seven years.

IPC Section 153A IPC deals with “promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony” while IPC Section 153B with “imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration”. IPC Section 505 deals with intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace.