Arundhati Roy, Syed Ali Shah Geelani booked for sedition

New Delhi : The Delhi Police on Monday registered an FIR against author Arundhati Roy, separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and five others for their purported anti-India speeches after being directed by a local court to do so.

Metropolitan Magistrate Navita Kumari Bagha, rejecting the police?s status report that Geelani and the others had made no offence relating to sedition or allied charges on Saturday had asked it to register a case and file a report on January 6, 2011, the next date of hearing.

Accordingly, the police have booked the speakers on charges of sedition, promoting enmity between two communities and assertion against national integration, reports said on Monday.

The other five slapped with the charges include Delhi University professor SAR Geelani, who was acquitted in Parliament attack case, and Jammu and Kashmir University professor Sheikh Showkat Hussain.

The Delhi police was earlier pulled up the court for failing to submit proper status report on the complaint filed with them on October 28 by Sushil Pandit, seeking registration of FIR against Roy and Geelani.

The accused had allegedly made ‘anti-India comments’ as they spoke on Kashmir at a convention in the nation capital in October spurring demands for action against them.