By IANS
Jaipur/New Delhi : Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen moved from Kolkata to Jaipur Thursday, a day after protests in the West Bengal capital against her stay in India snowballed into large-scale violence.
Police officials in Jaipur confirmed that the controversial writer had arrived in the Rajasthan capital Thursday evening.
According to the officials, who did not want to be named, Nasreen was staying in Hotel Shikha. A heavy police deployment was guarding the hotel, which is close to the chief minister’s office.
Police said the author was under the Y category security and was strictly asked not to speak to anybody.
“Nobody is allowed to visit her,” a senior police officer told IANS in Jaipur.
The hotel officials too refused to speak about Nasreen’s stay. “There is nobody with the name of Taslima Nasreen staying in this hotel,” a receptionist told IANS over phone.
Intelligence officials in New Delhi also confirmed the author had moved out of Kolkata.
“We believe she (Nasreen) has moved to Jaipur,” an intelligence official said.
“This was under an arrangement between the West Bengal government and the Rajasthan government,” the official added.
Wednesday’s protests by a section of the Muslim community in central Kolkata, demanding cancellation of Nasreen’s Indian visa, turned violent and the army had to be called in the city.
While the situation in Kolkata was peaceful a day later, the West Bengal government wanted her to move out as a precautionary measure for her safety.
Nasreen, living in Kolkata after being forced out of her country, had also come under attack at a book launch function in Hyderabad earlier this year.