Confiscate copies of 'Bangladesh Bank-er Itihas'

The High Court yesterday directed the government to immediately confiscate all copies of a book titled “Bangladesh Bank-er Itihas” (history of Bangladesh Bank) from the market, as some of its contents contain distorted history.

The bench of Justice Md Ashfaqul Islam and Justice Mohammad Ali passed the order and summoned Shuvangkar Saha, editor of the book and executive director of Bangladesh Bank, on March 12 to explain why distorting the history should not be declared illegal.

Earlier, Dr Kazi Ertaza Hasan, chairperson of Bangladesh Human Rights Development Commission, filed a writ petition challenging some of the contents of the book published by the central bank in 2017.

The petition argued that publishing pictures of then Pakistan's president Ayub Khan and East Pakistan's provincial governor Abdul Monem Khan in the book demeaned Bangladesh's independence and the Liberation War.

“The book did not contain any picture of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,” the petition also said.

Advocate Zubayer Rahman appeared for the central bank, while Deputy Attorney General Al Amin Sarker represented the state.