Event to Honour Booker Prize Winner Cancelled in Agra After Police Complaint

A person from Hathras sent a complaint to the police against alleged objectionable descriptions of Shiva & Parvati.

Delhi-based author Geetanjali Shree on Thursday, 26 May, became the first Indian writer to win the International Booker Prize.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/The Booker Prizes)

An event organised to felicitate International Booker Prize-2022 winner Geentanjali Shree in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra was called off by organisers on Saturday, 30 July, due to a controversy over her book ‘Ret Samadhi’ (Tomb of Sand).

Elaborating on the reason for the cancellation of the event, the organisers informed, Sandeep Kumar Pathak, a resident of Sadabad town in Hathras, had sent a written complaint to the police against Shree for alleged objectionable descriptions of mythological Hindu Gods - Shiva and Parvati, in her book hurting sentiments of Hindus, Hindustan Times reported.

The complaint has been filed with the Hathras police station.

The event was organised by two cultural organisations of Agra – ‘Rangleela’, involved in promotion and revival of theatre activities and ‘Agra Theatre Club’ which was to host the event to honour the award-winning author on Saturday.

'There Was a Lot of Enthusiasm’: Organisers on Cancellation of Event

“There was a lot of enthusiasm for the event as Geetanjali Shree was born in Mainpuri when her father was an IAS officer in this district of Agra division. The author did her schooling in different districts of Uttar Pradesh. It is really sad that the event had to be called off in such a manner,” said Anil Shukla from ‘Rangleela’ and Harvijay Bahia from ‘Agra Theatre Club’, in a joint statement as organisers, Hindustan Times reported.

Anil Shukla, one of the organisers heading ‘Rangleela’, was quoted as saying, “The complainant tweeted his ‘tehrir’ to the twitter handle of UP chief minister and UP DGP, seeking registration of FIR against Geetanjali. The Hathras police reportedly stated before local media that required action would be taken after studying the content of book.”

In a press statement issued to declare that the event had been called off, Shukla further said:

“Geetanjali said there was a failed attempt allegedly by a student group of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to sabotage her event when she was attending a felicitation function organised by the teachers’ union at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi a couple of days ago.”

Shree is a celebrated Hindi writer with five novels and five short stories to her name. Her novel Ret Samadhi, translated into English as Tomb of Sand by Daisy Rockwell, is the first Hindi-language book to be shortlisted for the prestigious award.

The Booker Prize website hails the novel as an "urgent and timely protest against the destructive impact of borders and boundaries – whether between religions, countries or genders."

(With inputs from Hindustan Times.)