An award after Behzti!

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, author of the controversial play Behzti has won the US-based Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

UK-based Sikh author Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti — whose controversial play Behzti depicting rape and murder in a fictional gurdwara infuriated members of her community in Britain — has won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, given annually for an outstanding new English-language play by a woman.

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The Houston-based prize carrying a cash award of $10,000 was presented to Bhatti at a private reception in London on Monday night for her play Behzti (dishonour), media reports said.

Sikh protestors in the UK held violent demonstrations forcing the cancellation of Bhatti's play by Birmingham Repertory Theatre in December.

The Sikh playwright was also forced to go into hiding after she received threats of abduction and murder.

Following the cancellation of her play, Bhatti issued a statement published in the Guardian daily of London saying "unfortunately the contents of Behzti seem to have been taken out of context by many. Surely it is only by reading or seeing the whole thing that anyone can usefully comment on the play's merits and flaws. I certainly did not write Behzti to offend."

British actors, writers and other leading figures from the world of arts had expressed support for Bhatti.

The Blackburn Prize, created to encourage women playwrights, draws entries mainly from the US, the UK and Ireland.

It reflects the values of Houston-born actress and writer Susan Smith Blackburn, who lived her final 15 years in London and died in 1977.