DELHI – Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, could be available in India for the first time in decades after a Delhi court said the government was unable to produce an original notification document banning imports of the book.

“We have no option but to presume that no such notice exists,” the Delhi High Court said in an order issued earlier this week in a case brought by a prospective book buyer who questioned the Indian ban.

Many Muslims considered Rushdie’s book blasphemous because of its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. It was banned by several countries, and in 1989 the Iranian Supreme Leader issued a death order “fatwa” against the author and his publishers.

India, although predominantly Hindu, has the third largest Muslim population in the world, with around 200 million people. It blocked imports of the book through a notification passed in 1988.

Five years ago, a man who wanted to buy the book filed a petition urging an Indian court to examine the merits of the import ban. During the litigation, neither authority was able to produce the original notice. This led the court to declare that it could not examine the validity of the document, which is now presumed to be non-existent.

The court ruled that the petitioner is now “entitled to take all steps in respect of the said book, in accordance with law”, which could pave the way for its introduction in India. BLOOMBERG