KOZHIKODE: Death penalty should not be given to a rapist, the law should give him a second chance to become a better person, acclaimed Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin said here on Saturday. The writer was responding to a question on the Central government’s ordinance laying down capital punishment for people convicted of raping children below 12 years of age.
“No one is born a rapist. It is society that creates rapists and hence we should change society,” she said during an interaction at the promotion of her recently released work in English — Split: A Life — at a mall in the city. The controversial writer and human right activist said society should educate men and teach them not to be rapists instead of criticising and pointing fingers at women. Taslima said it was the government’s responsibility to uphold freedom of expression. “All the laws which are against freedom of expression should be abolished.
Also, people should have the right to read any book that they want to,” she said. “Though I would like to go back to my country, I feel at home in India and would like to work for the people of this nation,” said Taslima in response to a query. Malayalam writer T P Rajeevan released her book at the function and handed over a copy to social activist and programming officer of the district Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, A K Abdul Hakkeem.
Split: A Life, brought out by Penguin publications and translated by Maharghya Chakraborty, is based on Nasrin’s work in Bengali titled Dwikhandito originally released in 2003. The book is the third volume of her seven-part autobiography and is preceded by Amar Meyebela (My Girlhood, 1999) and Utal Hawa (Wild Wind, 2002). The autobiography focuses on her life as a doctor, her experiences in Bangladesh, her debated novel Lajja and her life in exile in India.