Books under police lens to prevent hurting of religious sentiment

Dhaka Metropolitan Police or DMP Commissioner Asaduzzaman Mia has warned that legal action will be taken against the offenders if any book hurting religious sensibilities or disrupting communal harmony is found at the book fair.

"Surveillance team of Bangla Academy and police detectives will remain active. If any such book is found in a stall, proper action will be taken against them," he said in a briefing after inspecting the security measures of the Bangla Academy and Suhrawardy Udyan on Thursday, a day before the beginning of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair.

“Any book that hurts religious sentiment and disrupts communal harmony is prohibited.”

Police closed a stall of Ba-Dip claiming that the publication agency had been selling a book titled 'Islam Bitorko’ (Islam Controversy)', which first came to the 2016 book fair.

Later, owner of the agency, editor of the book Shamsuzzoha Manik, a marketing worker and the owner of the printing press were arrested.

The following year, Bangla Academy banned Robin Ahsan's publication company ‘Sraban Prakashani’ from the book festival.

About the security measures taken centring the book fair, the DMP chief said there would be 'foolproof' security arrangements during the fair. He did not see any threat from the militants.

Asaduzzaman promised security for the visitors, writers and publishers in the month-long annual book fair.

In the last few years since 2013, at least ten bloggers, publishers and writers were killed in militant attacks in the country.

On Feb 26, 2015, on the way back from the book fair, US citizen and writer Abhijit Roy was killed in an attack in front of the TSC in Dhaka University. His wife Rafida Ahmed Banya lost her fingers in the attack.

Since the incident, police have tightened security measures in the book fair and intensified watch on the book contents.