Jaipur fest organisers stop reading of Satanic Verses

The organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival stopped novelist Hari Kunzru from reading excerpts from Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses", saying they could face police action.

The novelist was reading out excerpts from the book which he described as a "study in doubt" when the organisers stepped in towards the end of the session, "Of Gods and Men", to stop him and Amitav Kumar. The organisers refused to comment on the incident.

Earlier in the day, the organisers had stood by their commitment to freedom of expression after Rushdie called off his visit to India and the festival.