Ms Nasreen said her health was bad during the four months she had been hiding in Delhi. She was forced to quit Kolkata after protests by Muslim fundamentalist groups. She had settled there after she fled Bangladesh in 1994 after the publication of her novel "Lajja", or Shame.

"I am suffering from very high blood pressure... and have developed heart disease," Ms Nasreen said in an e-mail to her supporters. "The blood pressure if uncontrolled can destroy my heart, kidneys and eyes."

She clarified that she was happy in Kolkata and was being stressed by this constant hiding. "In order for the politicians to secure this Muslim vote bank, I had to be locked up and as a consequence, my health was irreparably destroyed."

In a telephonic interview to Hindustan Times, Ms Nasreen said she would leave India Tuesday night to either Germany or Canada or Sweden. She added that she would not return unless she is promised a normal life in India by the government.

A doctor by profession, the 38-year-old Taslima quit her government job in 1994 after the publication of Lajja in which she alleged that the Hindu minority in Bangladesh was not being treated fairly. The novel describes the rape of a Hindu girl by a Muslim man. The novel enraged radicals in Bangladesh and she fled the country in 1994. She was recently conferred with the Simone de Beauvoir Feminist Award for 2008.
 

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