Booker Prize-winning Indian novelist Arundhati Roy’s talk titled ‘Utmost Everything’ at the photography festival Chobi Mela has been moved to a new venue after police vetoed its staging at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh.
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Arundhati Roy’s talk halted after police ban
The talk will now be held at Midas Centre 10th floor on Tuesday Mar 5, 2019 at 6:00pm, according to a notice on the Chobi Mela website.
“After massive juggling and a lot of help from friends, we have been able to obtain a new venue. The talk will go on and the previous registration holds,” the notice said.
Roy was scheduled to speak at a discussion with Shahidul Alam at the Chobi Mela programme on Mar 5 at the Krishibid Institution Bangladesh with the literature lovers of Bangladesh.
Drik Gallery Manager S M Rezaur Rahman claimed that they had obtained permission beforehand from the police to organise the programme.
“We obtained permission from the Tejgaon Police Station on Feb 25 for this programme. All arrangements were carried out accordingly. We had also completed the registration procedures for this programme,” he told bdnews24.com.
Later on Monday night, Tejgaon police informed the organisers that the programme cannot go ahead due to “unavoidable circumstances”.
“We shut the programme due to unavoidable circumstances. They cannot be given permission to hold the event at this time,” Tejgaon Police Station OC Mazharul Islam told bdnews24.com when contacted about the ban.
Chobi Mela, the first festival of photography in Asia, is held every two years in Dhaka.
More information about the talk can be found on the Chobi Mela website:
