Bangla Academy bans sales of book for 'seedy' cover

Bangla Academy has banned sales of a book at Ekushey Book Fair on charges of what it said was an objectionable cover and unacceptable ways of marketing.

bdnews24.com
Published : 17 Feb 2008, 10:58 AM
Updated : 17 Feb 2008, 10:58 AM
Dhaka, Feb 17 (bdnews24.com) – Bangla Academy has banned sales of a book at Ekushey Book Fair on charges of what it said was an objectionable cover and unacceptable ways of marketing.
The academy seized 85 copies of the book,
Romoni Bilas,
late Saturday from the stall of its publishing house Oishi Publications.
Khandaker Arif Al Hasan, owner of Oishi Publications, Sunday alleged that the academy's secretary Moinul Hasan had torn several copies of the book when the officials seized them from his stall.
Author Dulal Hasan said he did not write anything objectionable.
"The academy could have let us know if the book cover had really been objectionable," he told bdnews24.com.
Khandaker Arif said the way the book has been seized was illegal.
The academy's director general Syed Mohammad Shahed said: "The book's cover is objectionable. We had no other way but to ban the book from the fair. The way leaflets of the book have been distributed and the way some girls have sold the book at the stall are also objectionable."
A book with details of sexual relationship can reach literary heights, he said. "But I can say even without reading this book that it has been written only for commercial benefit."
Ekushey Book Fair means commemoration of Language Movement martyrs, Shahed emphasised.
"We don't want any book here that does not go with our social and cultural values."
He said the academy had to seize the book as the publisher did not remove it despite a warning.
Maskwaith Ahsan, an author of 10 books, said: "Censorship is an outdated word. No institution has got the right to curtail freedom of expression. This could be a subaltern book or trash. Readers and time hold the sole authority to judge that."
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