[Dawn] An Indian court ordered police on Saturday to investigate whether award-winning author Arundhati Roy could be tried for sedition over her comments about Kashmire.
In an appeal to a local court, Sushil Pandit, a private citizen, accused Roy of sedition for saying that Kashmire was not an integral part of India at a seminar in New Delhi last month.
"The court decided to instruct the police to register a proper (complaint), investigate the crime and report back by 6th of January," Pandit told news hounds.
Roy, a fierce critic of India's policy in Kashmire, will be investigated alongside hardline Kashmirei leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and five other people, according to the petitioner's lawyer and police.
"This is a ploy to distract attention from the real issue," Roy, winner of the 1997 Booker Prize for "The God of Small Things", told CNN-IBN television.
Police confirmed they had receiced a court order to investigate the case.
Speaking to Rooters in Kashmire's summer capital, Srinagar, Geelani said he was aware of the case.
"This is nothing new for me. There are already dozens of cases against me," he said.
The divided, mostly Mohammedan Himalayan region of Kashmire is at the heart of hostility between India and Pakistain and was the cause of two of their three wars.
Violent anti-government protests have swept Kashmire since June, killing more than 110 people. 
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