Thaindian News

Jaipur, Jan 21 (IANS) Rajasthan Police Saturday stepped up security at the Diggi Palace, the venue of the Jaipur Literature Festival, after some authors allegedly read out excerpts from Salman Rushdie’s controversial book “The Satanic Verses” in an unscheduled session a day ago, sources said.

The book is banned in India and some Muslim organisations have opposed Rushdie’s visit to the literature fest for authoring this book.

Rushdie called off his visit Friday, citing security reasons.

“We have come to know that some authors tried to read out excerpts from the controversial book written by Salman Rushdie yesterday (Friday) evening. It was a very unfortunate incident and will not be tolerated,” Muzzafar Bharati from the Muslim Ekta Manch told reporters here.

Muslim organisations have threatened to move court against the authors reading out the passages. Bharati added that the organisation is contemplating filing a police complaint.

After the protest, the police here further stepped up security.

“The number of security personnel has been increased to 650, higher than Friday,” a senior police officer said.

The organisers told reporters that the session was not scheduled. “An investigation has been launched to find out if any author was involved in reading out the excerpts,” an organiser said.

Over 60,000 people, including 260 authors from across the globe, are expected to gather at the Jaipur Literature Festival that started Friday. A three-layered security is in place after threats over Rushdie’s visit.

Officials said this is the first time such security arrangements have been made at one of Asia’s biggest literature festivals which will unfold here Jan 20-24.

“Visitors are being scanned at three different points during entry. About 135 interactive sessions featuring 258 authors have been scheduled during the fest,” the organiser added.