NEW DELHI — Indian police briefly detained three of Oprah Winfrey's bodyguards after they scuffled with local TV journalists Thursday, a news agency reported. 
 
 The American talk-show host had been traveling with both American and Indian bodyguards while visiting the Hindu pilgrimage town of Mathura, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) south of Delhi. 
 
 Press Trust of India said police detained three of the guards after local journalists said their video equipment had been damaged in a brawl. No one was reported hurt, and there was no indication that the American bodyguards were involved. 
 
 The three guards were released after apologizing in a letter to the journalists, PTI said. 
 
 It is Winfrey's first trip to India, where she has been filming her new show "Oprah's Next Chapter." 
 
 Earlier this week, she delighted Mumbai locals by wearing a bright orange sari while meeting with Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai at a private party. 
 
 She also visited the Taj Mahal on Thursday, and she is due to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival that begins Friday. 
 
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 Oprah in her many guises. ||||| Image caption Salman Rushdie will address the festival by video link 
 
 Author Salman Rushdie has withdrawn from India's biggest literary festival, saying that he feared assassination after influential Muslim clerics protested against his participation. 
 
 The author had been due to speak at the Jaipur literature festival. 
 
 He said he had been told by sources that assassins "may be on the way to Jaipur to kill me". 
 
 Salman Rushdie sparked anger in the Muslim world with his book The Satanic Verses, which many see as blasphemous. 
 
 He lived in hiding for many years after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his execution. 
 
 The author had been scheduled to speak on the opening day of the five-day Jaipur event which began on Friday, but earlier this week organisers said his schedule had changed and took his name off the list of speakers. 
 
 "I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to 'eliminate' me," Salman Rushdie said in a statement read out at the festival. 
 
 The failure of the state to secure Salman Rushdie's protection, many believe, is a shameful indictment of India's politicians and their opportunistic politics of least resistance A stain on India? 
 
 "While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience and to my fellow writers," he added. 
 
 "I will therefore not travel to Jaipur as planned." 
 
 'Stain on India' 
 
 The writer later tweeted that he was "very sad not to be at Jaipur" and that he would speak at the festival over a video link. 
 
 "I was told Bombay [Mumbai] mafia don issued weapons to two hitmen to 'eliminate' me. Will do video link instead. Damn." 
 
 Author William Dalrymple, who is also a festival organiser, said Salman Rushdie's decision to stay away was a "great tragedy". 
 
 Image caption There have been recent anti-Rushdie protests among Indian Muslim groups 
 
 "This is a result of a tragic game of Chinese whispers. We hope he will return to the festival," he added. 
 
 Author Hari Kunzru tweeted that Rushdie's absence from the festival is "a stain on India's international reputation". 
 
 Salman Rushdie was born in India but is a British citizen and has lived in the UK for most of his life. In recent years he has made many private visits to India and attended the Jaipur Literary Festival in 2007. 
 
 Correspondents say the protests against this year's planned trip are linked to crucial state elections due in Uttar Pradesh. 
 
 Correspondents say no political party wants to antagonise the Muslim community, which constitutes 18% of voters in the state, India's largest. 
 
 On 10 January, a leading Islamic seminary in India, Darul Uloom Deoband, called on the government to block Salman Rushdie's visit as he "had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past". Darul Uloom is based in Uttar Pradesh. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Jaipur festival got under way on Friday amid tight security. More than 250 authors and a number of celebrities are participating. 
 
 Tens of thousands of people are expected to attend the festival, which is being attended by authors Michael Ondaatje and Ben Okri, playwright Tom Stoppard, journalists David Remnick and Philip Gourevitch and TV host Oprah Winfrey, among others.
– Salman Rushdie has dropped out of India's top literary festival after hearing that assassins may have been planning to attend—and kill him. Powerful clerics had protested the author's attendance at the Jaipur festival, which opened today and was to feature Rushdie as a speaker. But "intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan" informed him "that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to 'eliminate' me," he said in a statement, according to the BBC. "While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience and to my fellow writers," continued the statement read at the festival. Rushdie does plan to appear via video link, however. A top Islamic seminary in India last week asked the government to halt the author's planned visit, saying Rushdie "had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past." The protests come as the state gears up for an election in which Muslims make up a significant voting bloc. (Oprah is scheduled to appear at the festival; click to read about the trouble she had in India yesterday.)