Tuesday, December 21 2004 20:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Sikh playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, whose controversial play 'Behzti' (dishonour) has been cancelled by a Birmingham theatre following violent protests, has gone into hiding after receiving threats of abduction and murder, her friends said.

They said she has fled her home following threats of abduction and murder, 'The Guardian' daily reported today (Dec 21, 2004).

"She has been threatened with murder," her filmmaker friend Shakila Taranum Mann told the paper.

Bhatti has been told by police to go into hiding, Mann said adding, "She (Bhatti) is personally paying a high price."

"She feels this is an attempt to censor her. It is mob rule."

Bhatti, herself a Sikh, has declined to comment.

Protesters say her play 'Behzti' demeans Sikhism by depicting rape and murder within a Gurdwara.

But the row took a new twist as a second Birmingham theatre company offered to stage the play just hours after officials at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre scrapped it over public safety fears.

However, some in Sikh community wanted it to continue and are dismayed by its closure.

Gurharpal Singh, professor of inter-religious studies at Birmingham University, believes the protests are a disaster for his community. "This is the Sikhs' Rushdie affair; it will have tragic consequences." Professor Singh said he was worried that members of a hardworking and broadly successful community would be seen a troublemakers.