The West Bengal Government today banned controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen’s book, Dwikhandita (Split in Two), claiming that it could disturb communal harmony.Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said: ‘‘I myself have read the book. I have got it read by at least 20 people. And, thereafter, we took the decision to proscribe the book in the state.’’The step, taken under Section 153A of the IPC, bans the publication, sale and marketing of the book with immediate effect. Police seized over 2,500 copies of it after raiding the binder’s premises at College Street in central Kolkata last night.Earlier, the police had raided the office of the publisher, People’s Book Society, soon after the book’s release on November 4. It had confiscated copies of the book and had asked the publisher not to print or sell any more till further orders. Shibani Mukherjee, owner of People’s Book Society, said she was quizzed by the Detective Dept sleuths on how she obtained the manuscripts of the book. She told them that the manuscripts came by post or through CDs and that none of the CDs were in her possession now.
