Taslima gifts body to Kolkata NGOPledging to donate one’s body is not a valid criterion for granting
citizenship: MHA
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Posted online: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 at 0153 hours IST
KOLKATA, MARCH 7: Controversial author from Bangladesh, Taslima
Nasreen, today pledged to donate her body to Kolkata-based NGO Gana
Darpan. However, her decision may kick up another controversy and end
in legal complications as she had already donated her body earlier to
an organisation, Sandhani, in Bangladesh in the 1980s before she went
into exile.
Taslima’s latest move has raised questions about her intentions, and
whether it is linked to her seeking Indian citizenship. However, the
author denied any such intention, saying: ”I have sought an Indian
citizenship from the government of this country. However, my
nationality has nothing to do with my donating the body. Anyone can
volunteer to donate one’s body anywhere in the world…The two things
are completely unrelated. My intention in donating my body is to
further the cause of science and to set an example for the common
people.” Taslima signed on the dotted line this evening. ”I consider
this (body donation) a very humbling act. And I have always stood for
anything that means contributing to society in any way,” she said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also said that pledging to donate
one’s body is not a valid criterion for granting citizenship.
Asked why she chose an organisation based in Kolkata and not one in
Norway of which she is a citizen, she said that donations like this
are needed more here. Taslima went on to say, ”Even if at some remote
point of time I am allowed to enter my motherland, my body will still
be donated here in Kolkata.”
Speaking to The Indian Express, the writer admitted that she had
donated her body earlier in her native country. But she feels that
Bangladeshis will not be keen on taking her body now. ”They (the
people of Bangladesh) will not let me live there, so how can they be
interested in my corpse,” she asked.
Commenting on the matter, Ashok Bakshi, public prosecutor in the city
sessions court, said, ”The law is silent on this issue and by virtue
of that, the act might not be an illegal one. But it is most certainly
an inconsistency to pledge the body in two separate countries.”
He maintained that in such a case, eventually it is the family members
of the deceased who would have the last say. ”If the surviving family
members of the deceased are against the donation, then her wish cannot
be fulfilled because in that case Indian law protects the right of the
family members over their claim to a body.”