UPL showroom locked over selling Bangabandhu's book, two staff released after brief detention

A sales outlet of publishing house The University Press Limited (UPL) in Banglabazar, Dhaka, was locked after objections were raised over the sale of The Unfinished Memoirs, a book written by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Two employees of the outlet were also taken away and detained for some time. They were later released following police intervention.

The incident took place at around 5:30pm on Monday (September 28) at UPL’s sales outlet in Banglabazar. According to UPL, two young men went there and asked to buy The Unfinished Memoirs. When the employees showed them the book, the two men objected to its sale.
At one point, the two men gathered people from the surrounding area. The shutter of the sales outlet was then pulled down and locked. At the same time, UPL said, two of its employees, Aminul Islam and Humayun Kabir, were taken away from the premises.

UPL said the two employees were later detained at Lal Kuthi Ghat in the Sadarghat area. The publishing house claimed that the people who took them away were involved in the politics of Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.

Officer-in-Charge of Sutrapur Police Station Motiur Rahman said the two employees were not taken to the police station. They were taken to the Faridabad police outpost. They were released after the two sides reached an understanding there.

According to police, The Unfinished Memoirs has not been reprinted since 2024. The two employees were released from the police outpost on the condition that the book would no longer be sold. The OC also said no complaint had been filed with the police station over the incident.

UPL published The Unfinished Memoirs in 2012. The book covers various aspects of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s political and personal life, as well as his years in prison. It was edited by former director general of Bangla Academy, Shamsuzzaman Khan.