THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: There may be heated discussions on gender justice or breaking the glass ceiling. But still there are places where women are unacceptable. Writer Sreedevi S Kartha who translated former president APJ Abdul Kalam's last book 'Transcendence My Spiritual Experience with Pramukh Swamiji' as 'Kalaateetam' in Malayalam was allegedly asked to abstain from the book release function organized by Current Books, Thrissur, on Saturday.

In a facebook post on Friday evening, Sreedevi has alleged that Current Books has informed her through one of the staff that she must abstain from attending the function as one of the chief guests is Swami Brahmavihari Das of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. She was told that the rules of BAPS are against women sharing dais with the swami.

"The first three rows in the hall must be reserved for swamiji's followers so that they can ensure that even the impure shadow of woman must not fall on him," Sreedevi wrote in the facebook post.

KJ Johny publishing manager of Current Books, Thrissur, said that they do not usually invite the persons who translated the book for the book release function. "We have no idea about such rules of the ashram. No such message was conveyed to Sreedevi," he said over phone from Thrissur.

The other guests of the event are co-writer of the book Arun Tiwari and writer MT Vasudevan Nair.

Sreedevi told TOI that a staff of Current books called her a week ago and said that she should not come as it would be against Ashram rules. "I first thought it as a joke and wait till the eve of the event. Then I decided to make it public as it is more a public issue than a personal one," she said.

"The hidden dangers in the issue shocked me more than the personal insult as a writer. What is the difference between Taliban, which asked women not to show other body parts except eyes, and Indian culture, which bars women from attending public functions," she asked in the post.