Kolkata, Nov 29: The West Bengal government today banned exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen’s controversial book Dwikhandito-Amar Meyebela III, following demands from various minority organisations. “We have issued an order to proscribe all the copies of the book and banned printing in the state,”West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee told reporters here.

West Bengal Home Secretary Amit Kiran Deb said the order was issued yesterday following representations from various organisations belonging to the minority community.

Mr Deb said the police had seized several copies of the controversial book in raids since last night itself. Mr Deb said the state government had received representations from different Muslim organisations regarding page 49 and 50 of the controversial book, which allegedly denigrates the Prophet.
In a letter to the chief minister a few days ago, the community had urged to proscribe the book, saying it contained passages with “obscene” remarks on the life of the Prophet.

The letter, which had, former Calcutta high court judge Shamsuddin Ahmed, former professor of Calcutta university Osman Ghani and Mohammad Shahidullah, Principal of Aliah Madrasa, among the signatories, also stated that the book had “misinterpreted” the Koran.

Barely a month old on the city’s bookstores, the book kicked up a storm in Bangladesh for allegedly laying bare the author’s intimate relationship with some intellectuals of the country.