Author: Press Trust of India
Publication: The Indian Express
Dated: August 28, 2002
Bangladesh has banned the latest
book of firebrand feminist and controversial writer Taslima Nasreen for
allegedly carrying anti-Islamic remarks. In a statement announcing the
ban, Bangladesh's home ministry said the Bengali-language novel "contains
anti-Islamic sentiments and statements that could destroy the religious
harmony in Bangladesh".
The book Utal Hawa. (Strong Breeze)
published from Kolkata was likely to disturb the socioeconomic harmony
of the country, it said last night. Authorities said the book, which is
actually the second volume of Nasreen's earlier novel Amar Meya Bela (My
Days as a Girl) has been proscribed and all copies of the book have been
seized and the sale, preservation and publication banned. Nasreen, a physician-turn-writer,
rose to prominence-after the publication of her first novel Lajja in 1993
which was immediately banned in Bangladesh for allegedly hurting the religious
sentiments of Muslims and other communities.
She fled Bangladesh seven years
ago and has since lived in self-imposed exile in Sweden and France. The
author would face trial on charges of blaspheming Islam and if convicted,
could be jailed for up to two years.
