A leading publisher here today alleged harassment by police for
publishing and selling a book written by a senior IPS officer on the
plight of Muslims in West Bengal and how the situation could be changed.
"We
will lodge a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission against
infringement of our rights and police harassment. We will also inquire
under the Right To Information (RTI) Act about the jurisdiction of
police in such cases," Sabitendra Nath Roy of Mitra and Ghose
publishers, told
PTI.
Roy
said he received a phone call from the Deputy Commissioner of the
Enforcement Branch Debabrata Das late last Thursday night asking for a
copy of the book written by Additional Director General (Training)
Nazrul Islam, immediately.
Since it was late, Roy said he asked him to collect a copy if it was in stock from his shop the next day.
On
Friday a police team reached the shop and closed down the sales counter
for some time and checked the stock of the book without any written
order, the publisher alleged.
He said Special Branch officials visited the shop the next day and asked about police excess as alleged by the publisher.
When
contacted, Das denied the allegation of police harassment saying "We
only inquired about the book and nothing else. The publisher's godown
was not raided, nor was any case filed against him."
The publisher said the shop was open today and there was no further harassment. Nazrul Islam declined to comment.
Emerging story. Watch this space for updates as more details come in