GUWAHATI: The brutal rape of 11 women on two cold nights in January in 1988 during the peak of the Bodo movement in Assam, still keeps the villagers burning with anger.
'Sihont' in Assamese, meaning ‘they’, is a new book by acclaimed author Juri Borah Borgohain, which re-visits Bhumka, the Bodo-dominated village in Kokrajhar bordering the Bhutan jungles, where security personnel, posted to bring peace and maintain order in the troubled area, committed the crime three decades ago. They raped 11 women in their own home on the nights of January 25 and 27. The author says her book will now tell the world about Bhumka’s tragedy.
Borgohain had to really struggle hard to gather facts. She went to the village, spoke to some of the victims and those who could remember those two nights of horror. “Justice has not been given to the victims. The world should know the story of these women,” she said.
The author even visited the house where the crime took place. The seniors in the village helped her by recollecting those moments. The author says a frail old woman, who was a mute spectator and could not walk now, crawled up to her door to narrate the story. “Right in front of my eyes, the women were raped,” she told Borgohain. “But I could not do anything.”
Some of the victims, (names changed) Pokhila, Chinu, Jaya, Jamuna, Bharati, Chikhla, Promila and Sorubhoni, are alive and met Borgohain. Three victims have died.
Disciplinary action was taken against the men and the victims were awarded some compensation, but that was a meagre amount. Some of the women got married. “Assam has witnessed many movements and in all these women have been the worst sufferers. The world does not know about their silent sufferings. Women, too, do not want to speak about their dark secrets because of their conditioning. Even if they do, they do not get justice,” said the author.
Borgohain dedicated the novel to the people from her residence in Chabua town in Dibrugarh on Sunday. The cover, designed by Diganta Bijoy, has the Bodo scarf ‘aronai’ and the face of a victim in a symbolic representation.
This novel would be a break in the author’s writing style of basing works on history. “The various movements that this state has witnessed have spawned umpteen heart-breaking stories which should find expression in works of literature. ‘Sihont’ is one of them,” said Borgohain.
Chinu, who is 55 now, is till unmarried. “We were given a small amount of money. No political leader remembered us. We are waiting for justice,” she said.
“The sensitive nature of the book, will make it stand out," said Pradyut Hazarika of Banalata publication, who is publishing the work.