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Not involved in Taslima issue: official

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government was not involved in Taslima Nasreen’s leaving Kolkata on Thursday, according to Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray.

“She is a free person. She can go, she can come,” he said here on Friday.

Asked whether the police had any role in her leaving the city, Mr. Ray said: “I do not know”.

On Ms. Nasreen’s reported desire to return to the city, his reply was the same.

“I only came to know of her having left the city from the television last evening,” he said.

“She is a free person and whether she goes and returns [to the city] does not depend on what we say,” Mr. Ray said.

Ms. Nasreen said on Thursday that she hoped she could get back to Kolkata, which had a “special place in my heart.”

There was no change in the State government’s stance on Ms. Nasreen staying on in the city if she so wished. On the question of security that was being provided to her in the city, Mr. Ray said “there were security arrangements made for her.”

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