Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s (DMP) recent decision to examine every book slated to be released at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair for content that might “hurt religious sentiment” has drawn strong criticism from the Bangla Academy. “We have asked writers and publishers not to release books that might offend people’s ‘religious sentiments’ at the fair. However, the Bangla Academy DG Shamsuzzaman Khan said he was unaware of any such committee being formed. This prompted the police to take ‘preemptive measure’, such as prompting the Bangla Academy to examine certain books for sensitive content where certain publishers were banned at the fair in 2016. Bangla Academy in 2016 banned five publishers for two years from participating at the fair.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 30, 2018 15:00 UTC