Jammu Court Sends Three Publishers to Police Custody Over Separatist Content in School Books
JAMMU: A court in Jammu on Monday remanded three arrested publishers to 10 days' police custody in a case linked to two books that allegedly contained separatist and anti-national content. The books were supplied to government school libraries in Jammu and Kashmir under a centrally sponsored education scheme.
The accused are Inderpaul of Jammu-based Oberoi Book Service, and Amardeep Singh and Girish Arora of Noida-based Dominant Publishers. They were arrested on Sunday and produced virtually before the court, which granted police custody for further investigation, an official said.
According to officials, sub-committees were formed to select books after library grants were received under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. The committees shortlisted 463 titles, but a subsequent scrutiny flagged two books—Personalities and Legends of J&K and Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir—as potentially containing objectionable content. By the time the issue was noticed, over 100 copies of each book had already been distributed to schools.
The authorities promptly withdrew the books and ordered an inquiry. Eight school education officials were suspended, and a contractual staff member was dismissed. The government also blacklisted Oberoi Book Service and Dominant Publishers. Investigators are now trying to determine how the books reached the libraries despite red flags raised during the content scrutiny process.
