Voidly · Verboten · India

Banned and restricted books in India

120 titles have been banned or restricted in India, recorded across 120 dated, source-cited events, most often for political content.

Titles
120
Ban events
120
Top reason
Political content
Decades active
13

Most-restricted titles

TitleAuthorYearEvents
Midnight's ChildrenSalman Rushdie19811
ShameTaslima Nasrin19931
Hind SwarajMahatma Gandhi19091
An Area of DarknessV. S. Naipaul19641
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic IndiaJames Laine20031
The Autobiography of a YogiParamahansa Yogananda19461
DwikhanditaTaslima Nasrin20031
The Argumentative IndianAmartya Sen20051
Rangila RasulM.A. Chamupati19241
AngareySajjad Zaheer19321
Rama RetoldAubrey Menen19541
Nine Hours to RamaStanley Wolpert19621
Jinnah: India, Partition, IndependenceJaswant Singh20091
The Satanic VersesSalman Rushdie19881
LajjaTaslima Nasrin19931
The Moor's Last SighSalman Rushdie19951
Such a Long JourneyRohinton Mistry19911
The Polyester PrinceHamish McDonald19981
The Hindus: An Alternative HistoryWendy Doniger20091
Great SoulJoseph Lelyveld20111
Understanding Islam Through HadisRam Swarup19831
The Red SariJavier Moro20101
The Lotus and the RobotArthur Koestler19601
One Part WomanPerumal Murugan20101
The Myth of the Holy CowD. N. Jha20021
Five Past Midnight in BhopalDominique Lapierre, Javier Moro20011
Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.Arundhati Roy20201
The Scented Garden: Anthropology of the Sex Life in the LevantBernhard Stern1
Unarmed VictoryBertrand Russell1
Quotations from Chairman Mao ZedongCompiled, Mao Zedong1

Stated reasons

Political content
81
Religious / blasphemy
37
Race / colonialism
16
Immorality
5
Sexual content
3
Violence
3
Obscenity
2
Other
2

By decade

1900s1
1910s1
1920s1
1930s5
1940s4
1950s14
1960s13
1970s8
1980s8
1990s5
2000s14
2010s12
2020s33

Documented bans

A sample of 50 of 132 recorded events, most severe and most recent first. Each links to its source where available.

Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction.2025
Bannedgovernment· Political contentsource →
Human Rights Violations in Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Kashmiris Fight for Freedom2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Colonizing Kashmir: State-Building under Indian occupation2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Kashmir Politics and Plebiscite2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora?2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Mujahid ki Azan2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Al Jihadul fil Islam2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Independent Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Resisting Occupation in Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Between Democracy & Nation: Gender and Militarisation in Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Contested Lands2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
The Kashmir Dispute: 1947–20122025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Kashmir at the Crossroads: Inside a 21st-Century Conflict2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 3702025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Resisting Disappearance: Military Occupation & Women’s Activism in Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Confronting Terrorism2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Freedom in Captivity: Negotiations of belonging along Kashmiri Frontier2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Kashmir: The Case for Freedom2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Azadi2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
USA and Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Law & Conflict Resolution in Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Tarikh-i-Siyasat Kashmir2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Kashmir & the Future of South Asia2025
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Modern ABC of History of Punjab2022
Bannedgovernment· Religious / blasphemysource →
History of Punjab (Class 12, Mahinderpal Kaur)2022
Bannedgovernment· Religious / blasphemysource →
History of Punjab (Class 12, M.S. Mann)2022
Bannedgovernment· Religious / blasphemysource →
Building a Happy Family2020
Bannedgovernment· historical· Othersource →
The Adivasi Will Not Dance: Stories2017
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Venthar Kulathin Iruppidam Ethu?2015
Bannedgovernment· historical· Race / colonialismsource →
The Hindus: An Alternative History2014
Bannedgovernment· historical· Religious / blasphemysource →
Santsurya Tukaram and Loksakha Dnyaneshwar2014
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Meendezhum Pandiyar Varalaru2013
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Great Soul2011
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Nehru: A Political Biography2011
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Such a Long Journey2010
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence2009
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Rani2008
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Islam: A Concept of Political World Invasion2007
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
Islam Rajnaitik Vishwa Par Muslim Akraman Ki Avadharana2007
Bannedgovernment· historical· Religious / blasphemysource →
The Epic of Shivaji: A Translation and Study of Kavindra Paramananda's Sivabharata2006
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
The Da Vinci Code2006
Bannedgovernmentsource →
The Argumentative Indian2005
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political contentsource →
The True Furqan2005
Bannedgovernment· historical· Religious / blasphemysource →
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India2004
Bannedgovernment· historical· Political content, Religious / blasphemysource →
Dwikhandita2003
Bannedgovernment· Political content, Religious / blasphemysource →
Lajja2003
Bannedgovernment· historical· Religious / blasphemysource →
Bhavsagar Granth2001
Bannedgovernment· historical· Religious / blasphemysource →
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Source: Verboten, built on the banned-books.org Open Censorship Core (CC BY 4.0). Verboten compilation CC BY 4.0.