The decadeslong ban of Salman Rushdie's “The Satanic Verses” in his native India is now in doubt — not because of a change of heart more than two years after the author’s near-fatal stabbing, but because of what amounts to some missing paperwork.

India's three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie's controversial 'The Satanic Verses' book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.

In 1988, India issued an order forbidding the import of Salman Rushdie’s novel. A Delhi Court has overturned the order, not because of free speech, but because no one could find it.

India's Delhi High Court on Friday lifted the ban on Salman Rushdie's novel 'The Satanic Verses' due to the government's failure to promulgate the ban in 1988. The controversial novel is especially