By IANS
New Delhi/Jaipur : Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who moved from Kolkata to Jaipur Thursday following violent protests in the West Bengal capital against her stay in India, is reliably learnt to be in a guest house outside Delhi.
“We have yet to decide on where to house her. We are assessing the situation in Kolkata and there is a possibility that she can return there once matters become calm,” said highly-placed intelligence sources.
“For obvious reasons we cannot name the place she is staying. She is slightly depressed by the turn of events in Kolkata but otherwise she is fine.”
According to sources, Nasreen was escorted by police as she left Rajasthan capital Jaipur. When media personnel tried to follow her vehicle, police put barricades on the Jaipur-Delhi highway and asked them not to follow her.
According to a news channel, the Bangladeshi writer was late Friday night taken to Rajasthan House, which is under the Rajasthan government, in the national capital.
Meanwhile, the state government issued a statement late Friday evening stating that it was left with no alternative except to have Taslima Nasreen as a guest due to the reluctance of the West Bengal government to allow her to go back to Kolkata.
It has also sought immediate intervention of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding the stay and security of the Bangladeshi writer in Rajasthan.
Explaining the circumstances of Nasreen’s trip to Jaipur, the state government said that an official of West Bengal Police contacted his counterpart in Rajasthan Police Thursday and informed him that Nasreen had been put on board a flight to Jaipur. The Inspector General of Police (Security), Rajasthan, was also informed that Nasreen enjoyed ‘Y’ category security status.
Apparently, Kolkata Police had roped in an office bearer of Rajasthan Foundation, an organization of people of Rajasthan origin settled in other parts of the country and abroad, to arrange for the boarding and lodging arrangements of Nasreen.
She did not have her passport on her person and gave the impression that since she had been virtually put on a plane at a very short notice, her passport had been left back and that she only had a residential permit issued in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, some radical groups in Rajasthan have started making preparations for staging protests against her stay, the statement said.
Anticipating outbreak of violence in various parts of Rajasthan, especially Jaipur, senior officials of the state government contacted Nasreen who expressed a desire to be sent back to Kolkata. Accordingly, arrangements were made by the government to send to Kolkata. However, the West Bengal police simply refused to accept the idea.
“At this stage, we were left with no alternative except to have Nasreen as a guest of the state government, till such time union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) takes a final view regarding her stay and security”, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the cabinet committee on security, which met in New Delhi Friday, was expected to discuss the threat perception to the author and take a call on where to house her after her stay led to large-scale violence in Kolkata, forcing her to shift.
Nasreen, who has been provided Y category security — it includes a police escort vehicle — spent the night in Jaipur with a heavy police deployment guarding the hotel.
On Thursday, the local administration in Jaipur did not allow the media to interact with her till late in the night. Two five-star hotels also refused to provide accommodation to Taslima on the pretext that they did not have any room.
Nasreen has been living in exile for more than ten years now after a fatwa was issued against her in Bangladesh.
Since the 1990s, Nasreen has faced numerous threats from Islamic groups for her writings. Activists of Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) attacked her at a book release function in Hyderabad in August.
According to home ministry officials, Nasreen’s visa is valid till February next year.