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Jaipur: A complaint
has been lodged with the police here against the four authors who
read out excerpts from Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" in an
unscheduled session of the Jaipur Literature Festival, police said
Sunday.
The complainant, Ashok Kumar, a resident of Vashali Nagar area,
here has claimed that the four authors -- Hari Kunzru, Amitava
Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi -- read out the passages from
the book which is banned in several countries across the world
including India.
"We received the complaint on Friday, but have asked the
complainant to provide us with some evidence supporting his claim
that these authors actually read out the excerpts from the book
which is banned in the country for over 20 years," a senior police
officer told IANS.
The officer said that the complaint has not been turned into a
first information report (FIR) against the authors.
"We will look into the authenticity of the complaint and various
aspects of the law associated with it before proceeding further,"
the officer said.
Rajasthan Police Saturday stepped up security at the Diggi Palace,
the venue of the festival, after Friday's incident.
Some Muslim organisations, who had opposed Rushdie's visit to the
literature fest for authoring this book, had condemned the
incident. Rushdie called off his visit Friday, citing security
reasons.
"We have come to know that some authors tried to read out excerpts
from the controversial book written by Salman Rushdie yesterday
(Friday) evening. It was a very unfortunate incident and will not
be tolerated," Muzzafar Bharati from the Muslim Ekta Manch told
reporters here Saturday.
Muslim organisations have threatened to move court against the
authors reading out the passages.
Bharati added that the organisation is contemplating filing a
police complaint.
Over 60,000 people, including 260 authors from across the globe,
are expected to gather at the festival that started Friday.
Three-layered security is in place after threats over Rushdie's
visit.
Officials said this is the first time such security arrangements
have been made at one of Asia's biggest literature festivals which
will conclude Tuesday.
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