Publisher, 2 others held for publishing book critical of Islam
The police arrested the publisher of Ba-Dwip Prakashan, Shamsuzzoha Manik, and two others on Monday night for ‘hurting religious sentiment’.
Shahbagh police sub-inspector Masud Rana filed a case under Section 57(2) of Information and Communication Technology Act against the three.
The two others are Fakir Taslim Uddin Kajal, official at the publication house, and Shamsul Alam, a writer.
On Tuesday afternoon, the three were produced before a Dhaka court that granted a five-day remand to Manik, two-day to Kajal and one-day to Alam, said Jafar Ali Biswash, inspector of Shahbagh police station and investigation officer of the case.
On Monday, the Ekushey Book Fair authorities closed down the book stall of Ba-Dwip Prakashan at Suhrawardy Udyan for selling a book ‘Islam Bitarka’, meaning controversy of Islam, which was edited by Shamsuzzoha Manik.
Jalal Ahmed, member secretary of the fair committee, said they shut down the stall as the book that could hurt religious sentiment was on display.
Ramna police division deputy commissioner Abdul Baten at a press conference at Shahbagh police station said a police team arrested Manik and Alam from the book stall of ‘Ba-dwip Prakashan’ at Ekushey Book Fair and Kajal from Kataban on Monday night.
They were arrested as some contents hurting the sentiment of Muslims were found in the book published by Ba-Dwip Prakashan.
Police also seized a total of more 75 books from Kataban and Nilkhet areas in separate drives, he said.
Replying to a question, he said the three were sued in ICT Act because the book ‘Islam Bitarka’ was also available online.
This year the fair committee so far shut down three other stalls for selling pirated books. The authorities in 2015 closed down Rodela Prokashani stall for selling and displaying ‘Nabi Muhammader 23 Years’, a translation of ‘Twenty Three Years: A Study of Prophetic Career of Muhammad’.
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