The Satanic Verses, criticised by some Muslims as blasphemous, was banned in India shortly after its release, sparking protests worldwide. Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989, calling for Rushdie’s assassination. This forced the Indian-born Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for nearly a decade.

The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” in his native India is now in doubt. That's 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 issued an order forbidding the import of Salman Rushdie’s novel. A Delhi Court has overturned the order, not because of free speech, but because no one could find it.

India's Delhi High Court on Friday lifted the ban on Salman Rushdie's novel 'The Satanic Verses' due to the government's failure to promulgate the ban in 1988. The controversial novel is especially