India's three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie's controversial 'The Satanic Verses' book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.

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.

The Delhi High Court quashed the 1988 import ban on Tuesday in a case brought five years ago by reader Sandipan Khan, stating that India’s government had said the notification banning the controversial book was “untraceable”.

Delhi High Court rules no evidence of ban on Salman Rushdie`s controversial novel, sparking debate on censorship and free speech.

In 1988, the import of the book ‘The Satanic Verses’ was banned for an law and order reasons after Muslims across the world called it ‘blasphemous’

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.