Sima Bardhan, Lakhipur, Cachar District, 2017
Detention Timeline Case Study #19 [written in Bangla by Kamal Chakraborty, edited and further translated into English by Riya]
Sima Bardhan, wife of Rontu Bardhan, daughter of Niranjan Bardhan, lived in the Jaipur Village of Lakhipur, Cachar District. Sima Bardhan’s father, Niranjan Bardhan, came to India from Bangladesh on June 5, 1965, from Baraigram of Sylhet district, Bangladesh (then East Pakistan). Once he came to India, he lived in Indiranagar, Kotwali, Tripura and worked in agriculture for a while. Sima’s father moved from Tripura to Kumachara village in the year 1966. On June 11, 1969, Sima was born in Kumachara Village of Lakhipur District. Niranjan Bardhan had the documentation of his migration; he had the registration certificate with Registration No. 5158/SDR (Form V). According to Section 5 (1) (a) of the Citizenship Act, 1955, if anyone who comes to India and lived here for seven years or more, they can appeal to the Central Government of India that they want to live in India and get their citizenship certificate. But Niranjan Bardhan never went through this appeal process, which became one of the reasons why Sima Bardhan wouldn’t be declared an Indian despite being born in this country. Sima Bardhan went to Harinagar M.E. School and studied up to the fifth standard there. After that, she dropped out and never continued her education because of financial constraints. She submitted her school certificate during the process, but the School Inspector’s countersign was missing in the certificate, making it unacceptable. Moreover, Sima couldn’t prove her relationship with her father because she never had a birth certificate. After all, issuing of Birth Certificates only started in 1987 in Assam.
Later in life, Sima married Rontu Bardhan in 1986; she moved to Natun Bazar in Jaipur Village of Lakhipur. Her name was included in the 1981 Voters’ List, which also had her husband’s name. Unfortunately, her husband passed away on August 3, 2013, after suffering from various medical issues.
On December 17, 2016, she was declared a foreigner in her own country by the Silchar Foreigners’ Tribunal. Sima Bardhan was voting as an Indian for many years, but suddenly, she was an illegal foreigner. She did not know why she was sent such a notice. Sima was sent to Silchar Detention Camp on April 10, 2016.
Arpita Dutta was informed about Sima Bardhan’s case by lawyer Dharmananda Deb of Silchar and jumped right into it, working on getting her out. Arpita is a journalist of Silchar daily, Prantajyoti and an Unconditional Citizenship Demand Forum member. After Arpita spoke to Dharmananda Deb, members of the organisation, Pradeep Paul, Samar Bhattacharya, Debjyoti Purakayastha, and I visited Dharmananda Deb. We tried to find out what stage and situation the case is in and what would be the right course of action now. We took out an interim order to take the case to the High Court on May 4, 2017. The ruling stated that until the final order comes out, Sima Bardhan cannot be sent to Bangladesh under any circumstance. The order also said that if Sima Bardhan wants, she could ask for protection from the Central Government under the Central Government notification dated 17.09.2015. The notification states that people belonging to minority communities of Pakistan and Bangladesh can seek shelter in India on account of religious persecution or perceived religious persecution.
Journalist Arpita Dutta took the help of the lawyer Dhamananda Deb through UCDF (Unconditional Citizenship Demand Forum) for this appeal. Sima Bardhan appealed to the central government. In a letter to the state government, the Central Government stated that protection must be given to Sima Bardhan based on the notification. On the other hand, the State Government of Assam asked Sima Bardhan to apply online; and this is where Sima got stuck. When we tried to apply online, they asked for the passport number, and she did not have a passport. So, naturally, she was forced to apply for the extension offline. The UCDF appealed to the then Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonwal, to declare Sima as Indian as per September 17, 2015 notification. Even Dilip Paul, MLA of Silchar, also tried to get Sima declared an Indian, but nothing happened in the end. Although this notification of the Central Government is effective in other states of India, we were told that this would be impossible to implement in Assam. What else can be expected from the authorities, whose main objective seems to make Bengalis stateless?
Meanwhile, one day Abhijit called us and informed us that Sima fell ill while living in the jail with other inmates. On further enquiry, we got to know that her situation is alarming; if she remains untreated, it can escalate into something much worse. So, on behalf of UCDF, Pradeep Paul, Debjyoti and I went to the detention camp to meet Sima and to request the Jail Superintendent we want to get her treated outside the jail. However, the superintendent did not agree and told us that the responsibility of her treatment was solely theirs.
In the meantime, it was announced that people who have served two or more years in the detention camp could be released on bail by the Supreme Court and later High Court. It was announced after the Liberty and Justice Initiative, which Aman Wadud was part of, appealed to release people from detention considering the situation of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Arpita Dutta took advantage of this situation and requested Mr Dilip Paul, MLA of Silchar, to arrange for guarantors needed for the bail. Biswajit Singh was one of the guarantors, and Dilip Paul himself came forward as the second guarantor.
When Dilip Paul came forward, we became excited and hopeful, thinking this might inspire other leaders and ministers of Barak Valley to come forward to help out other people in the camps. But that was not the case; apart from Dilip Paul, none of the so-called prominent people came forward to put a smile on the faces of the helpless people. Everyone else remained silent for reasons unknown.
However, after three years, Sima Bardhan was released from the detention camp on April 21, 2020 on bail. By then, her physical condition had worsened. She did not expect to be released at all, but she was delighted to be out after so long, and so were we.
[This is the 19th 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.]