CENSORING BOOKS AT EKUSHEY FAIR FOR CONTENTS Writers, publishers for readers’ judgement

Huge controversy has been kicked off by the capital’s police authorities’ bid for the 2nd year in a row that they would take steps if Bangla Academy, after scrutiny, recommends legal action against authors and publishers hurting public sentiments with their books on display at the month-long Amar Ekushey Book Fair, due to begin on February 1.
Publication of the report quoting the commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police by media on January 25 kicked off the controversies.
Rejecting the idea, BA director general Shamsuzzaman Khan told New Age that it would not be possible for the academy officials to scan the contents of over 4,000 books that are usually put on display at the annual book fair. 
Most of the writers and publishers also rejected the idea of censorship and demanded that the contents of new books be left to the readers’ judgement.
In his reactions, writer, critic and Dhaka University professor emeritus Serajul Islam Choudhury said that the readers alone had the right to judge the content of books.
Therefore, he called for leaving the value judgement to the readers.
He said that no other authority could be authorized to scan or censor the books expected to hit the Ekushey Book Fair stalls. 
Jahangirnagar University professor Anu Muhammad said, new books hit 
the Ekushey Fair each year, some of which could encourage free thinking, even anarchism and some others might hurt ones’ sentiments as well. 
Holding book fairs would be meaningless if all the books on display were written in support of the government, said Anu.
Imposition of direct or indirect controls over publications is nothing but fascism, he said. 
Novelist and publisher Moinul Ahsan Saber said there was no need for the authorities to scan new books for pre-censorship.
Withdrawal of books from the fair, shutting down bookstalls, arrest of publishers and their employees over religious issues, said Saber, sensitized writers and publishers about what the dos and don’ts for them.
He said that as there was no consensus in the society about controversial contents in books as readers’ value judgments varied, the government should at first define ‘controversial’ contents in books by enacting a new law before authorizing any agency to proscribe books for their contents.
Academic and Creative Publishers Association of Bangladesh executive director and publisher of Panjeree Publications, Kamrul Hasan Shayok said Bangla Academy or experts designated by it could take action against books hurting readers’ sentiments. 
Writer and Shraban Prakashan owner Robin Ahsan thinks it as unnecessary for the government to judge books for their contents.
The authority’s any vigilance moves, he said, were bound to affect writers’ creativity and free thinking.
Adorn Books’ publisher Syed Zakir Hussain said introduction of new censorship methods were unnecessary as Bangla Academy’s existing rules and regulations forbid display of defamatory or demeaning books.
Usually, publishers delete controversial issues for books they publish using the self-censorship skills. 
Only at exceptional circumstances, he said, the police could step in. 
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net