Arundhati Roy, the Indian writer will be tried for terrorism: she risks seven years in prison for a 2010 sentence

The most famous Indian writer in the world is silent. Arundhati Roy remains silent after learning that she will be tried for terrorism: among the most critical voices of the government, risks seven years in prison, not to mention the possible period of pre-trial detention. The author of The god of small thingswhich earned her the prestigious Booker Prize, will end up in the dock for the opinions expressed 14 years ago during a public meeting on separatism in Kashmir. The president of the New Delhi region, chosen by the prime minister’s party, authorized the procedure Narendra Modi.

The news came while the Indian leader was in Italy for the G7, a few days after his swearing-in for the third term: although forced to form a coalition government, due to the reduced number of seats obtained in Parliament after the elections, Modi wanted to project an image of continuity and power while maintaining his men confidence in key positions. And this initiative against Roy can also be read as a signal of strength that the new executive he wanted to give after his victory in half. The writer will be judged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the anti-terrorism law in force since 1969, amended in a more restrictive sense in 2019, immediately after the electoral triumph of the Hindu nationalists of the BJP. To silence dissent, they accuse the activists.

Without going into the merits of his statements, another great Indian writer spoke out in his defense: Amitav Ghosh: «The persecution of Arundhati Roy is absolutely inconceivable. She is a great writer and she is entitled to her opinion of her. An international outcry is needed over the case that has been brought against you for something you said 14 years ago.”

Several BJP leaders, however, defended the move and portrayed Roy as one traitor supported by the opposition party of the Congress, that of the Gandhis.

Statements dating back to October 2010 were targeted, when the writer declared at a conference in New Delhi that Kashmir had never been part of India before being occupied by Indian troops.
Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a former professor of international law at the Central University of Kashmir, will also go on trial together with Roy. Both, in the complaint filed in November 2010 by a Hindu activist, were accused of promoting «the separation of Kashmir from India».

Everything remained virtually at a standstill for thirteen years, until last October when the case was resurrected. Saxena himself announced on Friday that Roy can be prosecuted under the anti-terrorism lawwithout statute of limitations, allows suspects to be arrested preventively without the possibility of release on bail.

Among the most controversial parts of the Indian legal code, the UAPA has been invoked in recent years by the Modi government against student activists in New Delhi, Kashmiri journalists and the Jesuit priest Stan Swamy, who died in prison in 2021. Mary Lawlor, United Nations special rapporteur on human rights, criticized Indian authorities for using the law to «criminalize human rights defenders».

Roy remains silent, her lawyer, Rebecca John, speaks on her behalf, describing the case as “politically motivated”. “It took the Delhi Police 14 years to investigate a case, where the only charge against Ms. Roy is that of giving a ‘speech’, which certainly did not lead to any violence or other ‘illegal activity’” .