Rushdie video link to literary festival scrapped

A planned video address by British author Salman Rushdie to an Indian literary festival was scrapped on Tuesday because of security fears, police said.

Muslim groups at the venue in the city of Jaipur had called for police to ban the video link over the protracted row about alleged blasphemy in Rushdie's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses".

"(The venue) owners conveyed to police that it was not possible for them to allow the organisers (to hold the video link) in the present situation," deputy commissioner of Jaipur police Vijendra Jhala told reporters.

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