Imam announces Rs 50,000 reward for Taslima’s head

KOLKATA: Security for controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has been tightened after a imam here announced a reward for eliminating her and demanded
her expulsion from the country.

Security personnel have been guarding Taslima's residence and screening her visitors after Syed Noorul Rahman Barkati, the imam of Tipu Sultan mosque, announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on her head.

“Yes, I have offered a reward of Rs 50,000 to anyone who eliminates her as she continues to damage the secular fabric of this country with her comments," Barkati said on Saturday.

He demanded the writer's immediate expulsion from India, where she has been living for more than a year now.

Denying that she had hurt the sentiments of any religion, Taslima said she had not received any direct threat from anyone but some of her recent statements at a function might have been distorted.

“It is my firm conviction that my statements at a recent literary programme at the Bangla Academy have been distorted to the advantage of fundamentalist organisations," she said.

Expressing her resolve to stay on in West Bengal, she confirmed that security around her house has been tightened in the last few days.

“I like to stay in West Bengal since democracy is well protected here and there is freedom of expression. I have total faith in all religions and I have not uttered any word which may have hurt religious sentiments of any community," she said.