Jammu & Kashmir publishers arrested for books glorifying separatists

The Jammu counter‑intelligence unit arrested three publishers – Inderpaul of Oberoi Book Service (Jammu) and Amardeep Singh and Girish Arora of Dominant Publishers (Noida) – as part of a probe into two school textbooks that allegedly glorified separatist and militant leaders. The books, "Personalities and Legends of J&K" (by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena) and "Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir" (by Sushant Giri), were found in government school libraries in the Jammu, Ramban, Udhampur and Baramulla districts, with 123 and 128 copies respectively distributed.

An FIR was filed on July 4 under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Both Oberoi Book Service and Dominant Publishers had previously been blacklisted, and raids on their premises were conducted on July 6. The textbooks were withdrawn on July 3 after objections from political parties, and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha suspended eight officials of the School Education Department, dismissed a contractual employee and ordered a high‑level inquiry.

Investigators continue to search for one of the co‑authors, Hilal Ahmed, who remains untraceable, while indicating that further arrests may follow.