India's ban on Rushdie's Satanic Verses to end as order can't be found

Writing to the then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in October 1988, Salman Rushdie lamented that Indian democracy had become "a laughing stock" after a ban was placed on importing his contentious novel The Satanic Verses.

- Hannah Ellis-Petersen

Now 36 years later, the ban looks likely to be lifted after Indian officials failed to locate the banning order.

Rushdie's magical realist novel caused global turmoil when it was published in September 1988. It was inspired by the life of the prophet Muhammad, and though it did not name him and featured only fictional characters and places, it was condemned by Islamic figures as blasphemous, with the supreme leader of Iran issuing a fatwa against Rushdie.

The author was forced to keep a low profile for many years and was the victim of an assassination attempt in 2022, when he was stabbed during a public appearance in New York, leaving him blind in one eye.