NEW DELHI: Even as Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen ’s resident permit expired on Monday, prompting her to enquire about its renewal on Twitter, sources in the home ministry said her application for an extension was “under process” and a “decision will be taken in due course”.

“She has applied for extension of her one-year resident permit well in time. However, the processing of such requests sometimes takes longer than usual. Her request is currently under process and once the formalities are complete, a final decision will be taken and communicated to her,” a home ministry official told TOI.

TOI has learnt that the home ministry is favourably inclined towards extending her permit to stay in India.

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According to a home ministry official, the time-lag between expiry of her permit and its renewal is of little consequence as she is currently based in the US. It may be recalled that she had shifted temporarily to the US in June this year, citing alleged threats by “Islamists who killed atheist bloggers in Bangladesh”. “Will be back when (I) feel safe,” she had then tweeted.

On Monday, Nasreen, anxious at not having heard from the government of India on renewal of her resident permit, tweeted: “Dear India, since 2004 I’ve been receiving my resident permit before 17 Aug every year. You have not extended my RP this yr (sic). Never happened before”.

READ ALSO: Taslima Nasreen gets one-year visa, till Aug 2015

She further tweeted: “Dear India, have you extended my resident permit? My permit is going to be expired today. I applied for the extension months ago. No news yet”.

Her tweets led her supporters on the social media to petition Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to extend her stay in India. She later retweeted a TOI tweet quoting home ministry as saying that her application for a resident permit was under process and that no decision had been taken yet.

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Last year, the author had personally met Union home minister Rajnath Singh to facilitate her extended stay in India. Singh promised her “achche din”, after which she got a resident permit valid for a year.