New Delhi - Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen was attacked Thursday by a group led by Muslim politicians in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, witnesses and news reports said. The 45-year-old author was speaking at the Hyderabad Press Club to mark the release of her latest novel when she was attacked by a group led by three Majilis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators who alleged that she had made anti-Muslim remarks.
The group of 30 Muslim youths hurled bags, flower pots and books at the novelist, who was sharing the dais with other literary figures and journalists, behind whom she took shelter.
The PTI news agency said the MIM activists barged into the conference hall, damaging furniture and glass panes.
Some of them reached the dais and roughed up the novelist and feminist who has promoted equal rights for women and criticized the treatment of women under Islam and the oppression of non-Islamic minorities in Muslim societies.
Police, who detained the politicians, told the NDTV network that Nasreen was not injured in the attack and was escorted to the city airport. Journalist Innaiah Narisetti and some press photographers sustained minor injuries in the incident, police said.
The Indian government has criticized the attack on Nasreen, who was in Hyderabad for the release of the Telegu translation of her latest novel, Shodh, which means Getting Even.
Organizers of the function said Nasreen was "shocked" at the incident and video footage showed the MIM leaders verbally abusing and attempting to attack the author.
"Certain groups, representing a miniscule section, may want to physically harm me under the delusion that they can muzzle my voice. But they are mistaken, I will continue to write what I believe in," Nasreen told PTI.
Nasreen, who fled from Bangladesh in 1994 after hardline Muslim clergymen said her writings were blasphemous and demanded her execution, has faced threats from radical Muslim leaders and organizations in India as well.
Earlier this year, a conservative Muslim group offered a reward of 500,000 rupees (12,350 US dollars) for her killing.
"Taslima has put Muslims to shame in her writings," Taqi Raza Khan, president of the All India Ibtehad Council, said in a statement issued in March. "She should be killed and beheaded, and anyone who does this will get a reward from the council."
The writer, who is also a doctor, lived for more than a decade in Europe and the United States. She now resides in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata and is seeking permanent Indian citizenship.
