Bangladeshi feminist's kiss-and-tell novel banned

An explosive novel by self-exiled Bangladeshi feminist Taslima Nasreen containing graphic accounts of sexual escapades of leading literary figures of Bangladesh and India has been banned in both countries.

The printing and sale of the kiss-and-tell book, entitled Ka (the first letter of the Bengali alphabet), was halted by courts in Dhaka and Calcutta, capital of India's West Bengal state bordering Bangladesh, after two prominent authors sued Nasreen, 42, for tarnishing their reputation. The book is in Bengali, the main language of the region.

The controversial writer, also a doctor, fled Bangladesh in 1994 after Muslim extremists put a price on her head for allegedly insulting Islam. Since then, she has lived in Sweden, France and United States. She was tried in absentia and sentenced to imprisonment.

At present, she is on a fellowship at Harvard University.

Nasreen's latest book remains on the streets of Dhaka despite police confiscating copies, with vendors offering pirated copies at inflated prices, according to reports.

Branded as pornography, the 415-page book revolves around Nasreen's sexual encounters with her three ex-husbands and a host of literary personalities, besides their affairs with other women.