Bengali author Sushmita Banerjee's brother recounts her murder by Taliban in 2013

Eight years after Bengali author Sushmita Banerjee was shot by the Taliban in Afghanistan, her younger brother Gopal Banerjee recounted the horror that took his sister away forever.

A brave Sushmita left behind memories of writing her first book on her life under the Taliban after she moved to Afghanistan with her husband Jaanbaz Khan whom she married in 1986.Her book 'Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou' (A Kabuliwala's Bengali Wife), published in 1997, was made into a Bollywood movie 'Escape from Taliban' after which she came under the Taliban glare. Sushmita had returned to India in 1994 with her husband but chose to go back to Afghanistan in May 2013 and complete her second book. ALSO READ: Indian author Sushmita Banerjee, who wrote about her dramatic escape from Taliban shot dead in AfghanistanThe author visited Kolkata in July to collect some writing material when her brother sat her down and warned her against the dangers back in Afghanistan, considering her second book too might anger the Taliban. Sushmita, however, reassured her brother that things have changed with the Taliban being more liberal towards working women and also their freedom of expression."Women could not study; they had to wear burqas. But she thought in 2013, things had eased as the US had pushed the Taliban away and the situation was conducive for women. She went back in May 2013 to write another book on this,” said Gopal Banerjee.On September 4 the same year, Sushmita was dragged out of her house by the Taliban at 2.30 am in the presence of other family members. The Taliban had allegedly pointed guns at other helpless family members after Sushmita was shot dead. Her family back in Kolkata was shocked with no words to express the grief that overtook the bravery portrayed by the author to express her views through her writing.