Ain o Salish Kendra is strongly protesting the arrests of publisher of the Ba-Dwip Prakashani and writer.

According to media reports, police made the arrests on 15 February 2016 at the book fair and also shut down the stall of Ba-Dwip Prakashani after seizing the published materials. Police conducted the drive based on information received from the social media websites, including Face book. Police closed the book stall on charge of displaying a book likely to hurt people’s religious sentiment. ASK is gravely concerned over the arrests of Shamsuzzoha Manik, publisher as well as researcher, and two others – official and author of the publishing house.

It has been reported by the media that police sought the arrestees in remand in a case filed in line with Article 57(2) of the Information and Communication Technology Act (ICT Act) to interrogate them. We have repeatedly voiced our concern over the misuse of the Article 57 of this Act and this incident proves our worry again.

Article 39 of the Constitution of Peoples’ Republic of Bangladesh ensures the freedom of thought, conscience and speech for every citizen. We think that a person should responsibly express his opinions and thoughts. But defining this responsibility by a legal framework and provisions such as authorising police to arrest someone out of mere suspicion or apprehension do not safeguard freedom of expression in any way.

We, from all quarters, expect well-thought-out steps that safeguard people’s rights.