Police have sued Badwip Prakashan owner Shamsuzzoha Manik and two others for printing and selling a book with contents that could hurt religious sentiments. Badwip’s stall at the ongoing book fair was shut down on Monday.
The other accused are stall manager Shamsul Alam and Fakir Taslim Uddin Kajol, owner of the press where the book was printed.
Meanwhile, a Dhaka court yesterday granted five-day remand for Shamsuzzoha, one-day for Shamsul and two-day for Fakir.
From a press briefing at Shahbagh police station yesterday afternoon, Abdul Baten, deputy commissioner of police, said the case was filed under Information and Communication Technology Act.
In reply to a query, he also said: “We received information about the book’s provocative content on social media and intelligence report. We kept an eye on social media to spot such messages.”
The book’s online version went viral and that was why they filed the lawsuit under the ICT act, Abdul Baten added.
When the DC was informed that the book was a translation of pieces by foreign writers, he told the Dhaka Tribune that the case was still at the initial stage of investigation.
“If the book is a translation, we have nothing to do with those foreign writers,” he noted.
Shahbagh police produced the three accused before the Dhaka Court seeking a seven-day remand for each. On behalf of the accused advocate Rafiqual Islam submitted a bail petition to the court.
After hearing Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Amirul Haider Chowdhury rejected the bail petitions and passed the remand order.
