Dhaka, September 30, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Two employees of publishing house University Press Limited (UPL) in Dhaka were allegedly harassed and taken to a police outpost over the sale of The Unfinished Memoirs, written by Bangladesh’s founding leader, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, amid growing concerns over freedom of expression in the country.
Police said those involved in the incident were local activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). The two employees were later released.
Matiur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Sutrapur Police Station, said UPL had been publishing the book for a long time and may have had copies of an older edition printed earlier.
“UPL has been publishing Sheikh Mujib’s The Unfinished Memoirs for a long time. Perhaps they had some copies of an older edition that had been printed earlier. For this reason, some people took two employees from there to the police,” the Bangladeshi media outlet bdnews24 quoted Rahman as saying.
In a statement, UPL said two young men had visited its outlet seeking to buy The Unfinished Memoirs. However, after seeing the book, they allegedly claimed it was “banned” and demanded an explanation for its sale.
According to the publisher, the men subsequently pulled down the outlet’s shutter, gathered local residents and took two sales employees to a police outpost.
UPL said its staff had clarified that the book was not banned, but the men went on to shut the outlet and subject the employees to “severe harassment”. The publishing house described the incident as “extremely shameful and unfortunate for the nation”.
Meanwhile, a group of citizens condemned the incident at the UPL showroom, expressing concern over the alleged intimidation of employees and attempts to stop the sale of the book.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, the signatories called for an impartial investigation into the September 28 incident, legal action against those responsible and adequate security for the publishing house and booksellers across Bangladesh.
“Everyone has the right to disagree with, criticise, or debate the content of a book. But that right does not give them the right to take away the right to publish, sell, or read another’s book. Whether a book should be banned or not should be determined through a fully legal process; not based on the declarations and pressure of any individual or group. This principle applies equally to all authors, publishers, and readers, regardless of political affiliation,” the Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo quoted the signatories as saying.
Describing The Unfinished Memoirs as an important work in Bangladesh’s history, the signatories acknowledged that the book could invite differing interpretations and assessments.
They stressed that disagreements should be expressed through “discussion, research and reasoned argument”, rather than through attacks on bookshops or harassment of their employees.
The signatories also warned that allowing such incidents to continue could increasingly restrict publishers’ freedom to publish and undermine readers’ freedom to choose what they read.
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