Minara Begum and Shahanara Begum, Udharband, Cachar District, 2010
Detention Timeline Case Study #10 [written in Bangla by Kamal Chakraborty, translated into English by Riya]
Minara Begum was a resident of detention camps for a whole decade. In between, even though her space changed, her fate did not. In 2010, she was in Goalpara Detention Camp; from there, she was sent to Kokrajhar, and then, at last, Minara was placed in the Silchar Detention Camp—this is how she completed the ten-year-long chapter of her life.
On August 8, 2009, when Minara Begum was declared an illegal foreigner and deported to the detention camp, she had just given birth to her daughter, Shahanara. Shahanara Begum was just a 15-day old baby in her lap that day; yes, you read it right, 15-day old infant! At the time when a mother and child needed utmost care, they were placed in detention camps.
Thanks to the success of Harsh Mander's appeal, people are now getting released from the camps, even if on bail. I met Minara and 10-year-old Shahanara on January 16, 2020, at the Silchar Detention Camp. During the last ten years, Shahanara has left her mother's lap and learned to walk independently. Even though Shahanara's reach remains restricted within the boundaries of a prison. In the ten formative years of her life, she never had an opportunity to see anything of the world outside.
I had some chocolate with me that day; with the permission of the Jail Super, I gave it to Shahanara and asked Minara for her address and contact information of her family members. Then I went to her house with my friend, Shubhankar Chanda.
Minara Begum was born in Lathigram, Cachar. She lost her father, Usman Ali, at a very young age. Her grandfather was an old resident of Thaligram; he has been living there since 1946, they even have documents to prove the same. Despite having all the necessary documents, like, land deed, legacy data, she was sent to detention for the 'crime' of not being able to produce and submit all the necessary documents on time, because she was illiterate, she wasn't able to read and figure out what needs to be done, by when. She couldn't produce documents that would prove that she is indeed Usman Ali's daughter; Minara never finished formal education in school like many women of this country. She thus doesn't have a school-leaving certificate that states she is Usman Ali's daughter1. All of them are simple people who never imagined this situation, importance of carrying proof of their identity, citizenship, relationships. They never really understood the complicated requirements of the law. Her husband is Rahim-Uddin; he is a daily wage labourer. When Minara was in Kokrajhar detention camp, he went to see her only for one day; even if he wanted to visit her more often, it was impossible because even the cost of travelling and visiting her regularly was impossible to bear for him. Her case was taken to High Court even through The District Legal Services Authority, Kokrajhar. But Minara's family couldn't carry on with the case due to lack of money. It was not even possible to carry out the cost of travelling to and from Guwahati for appearances.
When it was time to appeal for bail, they were struggling to arrange for two bailiffs. Only the victims and people involved in this process can truly understand how difficult and costly this task is; no one else can. People who were vocal about issues related to citizenship and NRC failed to arrange for a guarantor required for bail. One evening, I even went to former MP of Silchar, Sushmita Dev, with advocate Soumen Choudhury, asking for her help regarding the bail. She promised that she would arrange for a guarantor. A few days later, she informed me on a call that it was not possible on her end. Some kind of stubbornness took hold of me. I promised myself that, I will arrange for a guarantor one way or another for her bail. I was accompanied by Minara's nephew, Ahmed Ali. He accompanied me as we tried to find a guarantor, one way or another.
Eventually, Shahanara Begum, now a 10-year-old child and her mother Minara Begum, both were released on April 21, 2020. After many years for Minara, probably the first time for Shahanara, since she was fifteen days old, both could breathe under the open sky. Both of them spent nine years in Kokrajhar Detention Camp and nine months in Silchar Detention Camp. April 2020 was the first time in Shahanara’s life that she had the opportunity to go to her home, meet her cousins, play in an open space. After she came to Silchar, I learned from Minara that Shahanara is also excellent in academics. She was loved by other people in prison; they gave her a nickname—Chumki (meaning glitter/ someone who glitters).
During the lockdown, Shahnara's father became unemployed, unwell; he couldn't eat. Minara's family was so poor that it was a struggle to even survive. We, along with NELECC and Saksham, tried making arrangements to provide for rations for them. After receiving news, Aman Wadud, lawyer of Guwahati High Court and journalist Vidhayak Das, came forward to offer them financial assistance. After receiving the money, Minara called me crying, and asked me, "who are you to me?" it was an emotional conversation between the two of us; my eyes welled up as well. I have understood that marginalised people don't really want your money; they want someone to stand beside them in their fights, in life.
On July 7, 2020, along with Ravishankar Bhattacharya, Malay Das and Gunakar Das from Silchar Bikshan Cine Commune, I went to their house to arrange some financial help and study materials, notebooks for Shahanara. Joydeep Bhattacharya and Chinmoy Bhattacharya from Ishan Kwatha web-magazine in Silchar also provided financial assistance once they learned about the case. When I went to meet them the other day, Shahanara showed me all the words she wrote in English in the notebooks she got!
I only had one thought in my mind those days, how to help in raising Shahanara. Then one person came to my mind who could support her growth. I don't think I know anyone else who is as brave as this person in this city. This was my friend—Bijoya Kar Shome. She is one of the most prominent writers and thinkers of Barak Valley.
One day Bijoya asked to bring Shahanara to her house. Bijoya was busy with her engagements and work at Kwatha Bikolpo Poribar. Since lockdown was imposed on November 8, 2020, Silchar had the first event in Silchar Shishu Udyan; around 200 people came together. Shahanara recited a poem by Sukumar Ray that Bijoya helped her learn. After the program, the Kwatha Bikolpo Poribar showered Shahanara with so much love and affection that she was upset about going back to her own house after two days. Kwatha Bikolpo Pariwar shouldered the responsibility of Shahanara's future education and other duties.
Now the next step was to take up Minara Begum's case to the Guwahati High Court. Advocate Aman Wadud will be fighting the case pro-bono. I hope Minara Begum will be declared Indian in the coming days. But we cannot give her back the ten years of her life. It is beyond my ability to comprehend how difficult it had been for Minara Begum to go to different detention camps with a 15-day old child and adapt to the hostile environment of camps, to adapt to such a situation. I bow down to Minara's strength. Minara has raised her daughter with indomitable courage!
[This is the Tenth Case Study from the book আসামে নাগরিকত্ব হরণের দহনলিপি // Transliteration: Assam-e Nagorikottwo Horoner Dohonlipi by Kamal Chakraborty. The book was first published in February 2021 by Kotha Bikolpo Pariwar, Silchar, Assam. To know more about the book and this translation project or contact the translator or the author, click here. If you want to order this original book in Bangla, you can get it from the People's Book Society, College Street in Kolkata. Contact Number: 033-22199256; instead, you may also contact the author or the translator. ]
More on how it is more difficult for women in Assam to prove their identity by Kamal Chakrabarty: আমার 'ক্যাম্প' থেকে মুক্তি লড়াই: ফরেনার্স ট্রাইব্যুনালে ভারতীয় প্রমাণ করা খুব মুশকিল - VERSATILE STORY. Translation of the article: Case of Dipali Das [Women in NRC]