Court lifts ban on Nasreen's book in Bengal

A court in West Bengal has lifted a ban on a book by exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen two years after the state government banned it for allegedly offending Muslims, newspapers reported Friday.

The Dwikhandito (Split Into Two) written in 2003 was a harsh take on how women are treated under Islam.

The book ban also came after an Indian poet, Syed Hasmat Jalal, sued Nasreen for allegedly making up a sexual relationship between them that she details in her book.

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But the Kolkata High Court lifted the ban Thursday, saying the book did not 'deliberately outrage the religious feelings of any community,' The Statesman newspaper reported.

The court said the writer, without naming any religion, had made general observations in her book that religion was the root of all social ills and that she had never intended to specifically insult Islam, The Statesman said.

The 395-page book was also banned in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, where it was published under the title Ka, after Islamic fundamentalists objected.

Nasreen fled her native country in 1994 after her first book, Lajja (Shame), also about women living under Islam, angered Muslim hard-liners who threatened to kill her.