The Maharashtra government has banned 114 books, magazines, and other items of literature linked to terrorist organisations, including Islamic State, Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), Hizb-ul-Mujahideen Pir Panjal Regiment, and Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
In a gazette notification issued by the state Home Department on Thursday, the government said intelligence inputs, cyber surveillance reports and investigations by the Anti-Terrorism Squad had pointed to the continued circulation, possession and transmission of radical and extremist literature linked to terrorist and unlawful activities.
The government said the material glorifies violent extremism and jihad, promotes radicalisation, facilitates ideological indoctrination and recruitment, and encourages acts considered prejudicial to India's sovereignty and integrity. It said such material poses a threat to public order, communal harmony and internal security.
The banned material includes 44 issues of the "Voice of Khurasan" magazine, along with "Are You Still Sitting", "Why Should You Join the Islamic State" and "Nida-e-Khurasan - 1 Urdu". These were linked to Islamic State, ISIL, ISIS, Daish, ISKP and other associated manifestations.
Issues of "The Revolutionary Resurgence", linked to Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and its Pir Panjal Regiment, have also been banned. Other banned titles include "Nawai Gazawa e Hind", "School Of Yusuf" and "Modern Warfare", which the notification linked to Al Qaeda and AQIS.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Friday that some of the material contained instructions related to making bombs and carrying out lone-wolf attacks. He said the Maharashtra Public Security Act now provides a legal mechanism to ban such material and take action against those circulating it.
The notification said senior police and ATS officials had informed the government in March last year that certain newspapers, books, documents, paintings, drawings and photographs should be forfeited because they were associated with activities prejudicial to India's sovereignty and integrity.
The ban also covers associated websites, social media platforms, encrypted channels and digital networks used to propagate such content.