Book censorship in India has existed at least since the British period, and several books remain banned by the central and state governments. Books

criticizing Criticism is the construction of a judgement about the negative qualities of someone or something. Criticism can range from impromptu comments to a written detailed response. , ''"the act of giving your opinion or judgment about the good or bad q ...

major religions of India, as well as books supposedly portraying national figures including

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and

Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

in a bad light continue to remain banned.

History

British period

Post Independence

During the 1960s, following the

Sino-Indian war The Sino-Indian War took place between China and India from October to November 1962, as a major flare-up of the Sino-Indian border dispute. There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tib ...

, Chinese books and magazines were banned. After protests by Muslims and a petition by

Syed Shahabuddin Syed Shahabuddin (4 November 1935 – 4 March 2017) was an Indian politician and diplomat from Gaya, Bihar. He began as a diplomat working for the Indian Foreign Service, but later became well known as one of the most articulate Muslim polit ...

to the Rajiv Gandhi government, ''The Satanic Verses'' was banned in 1988, with India becoming the first country to ban the book.

Topics

Religious

Many books in India are or were banned for disagreeing with Islam and Hinduism's teachings.

Political

Many books in India were banned for criticizing India and it's government or political systems.

Historical

Books were banned for criticizing

and other important Indian historical figures.

Obscenity

''The Scented Garden: Anthropology of the Sex Life in the Levant'' was banned due to sexually explicit content.

List of banned books

References

{{Reflist Book censorship in India