NEW DELHI (AP) — The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie's “The Satanic Verses” in his native India is now in doubt — not because of a change of heart more than two years after the author’s near-fatal stabbing, but because of what amounts to some missing paperwork.

In 1988, India ruled that Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” could not be imported. This week, the ban was lifted because officials could not find the original order.

Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' Can Be Imported in India as Court Told 1988 Ban Order Untraceable By Shivam Patel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie's controversial 'The Satanic Verses' book has effectively been ...

A court in India has lifted a three-decade ban on Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses after authorities were unable to produce the original order prohibiting imports of the controversial novel. The Delhi High Court quashed the 1988 import ban on Tuesday in a case brought five years ago by reader Sandipan Khan,

Excerpts from the book along with an interview of Rushdie ran in an Indian magazine in September 1988, which led to Indian politicians Syed Shahabuddin and Khurshid Alam Khan demanding a ban. On 5 October 1988, the Indian government banned the import of The Satanic Verses via a customs order by the Ministry of Finance.

India, while mostly Hindu, has the world’s third-largest Muslim population at around 200 million. Read more at straitstimes.com.