No citizenship yet, Taslima gets a six-month visa

On February 17, Nasreen sent a letter to Patil requesting that she be granted citizenship or work permit on humanitarian grounds. She had said that she had been banned from entering her country of birth—Bangladesh.

When asked if she will be granted citizenship under the prominent citizens’ category, Home Secretary Singh told The Indian Express: ‘‘It is not being considered as of now.’’

The Bangladeshi writer has been living in exile for the past 10 years—mostly in Germany and Switzerland—after Islamic fundamentalist organisations issued a fatwa against her in 1994 for her novel, Lajja.

The Home Ministry, it’s learnt, has reasoned that she cannot be given a citizenship since the Citizenship Act requires a person to have stayed in India for at least 11 years. A one-time change in this provision is likely to set a precedent and open a floodgate of applications.