Thousands of men and women (mostly Hindus) were made their way towards the Barasat refugee camp from Hasnabad. They had their last resources packed in sacks and carrying them on their head.
It was a long long way to go, but they had no other way but to walk. How long can anyone live on a boat, on a limited amount of ration that will last less than a week if they consume only one meal a day? They just wanted a place to stay and two simple meals a day…
Maybe death was more desirable than living like this. Death would be peaceful. So many people sold their boats, even their utensils just to buy food!
These men and women were witness to horrific acts of violence and state sponsored terrorism. They were carrying a mountain of grief on their shoulders. Some escaped and survived, narrowly dodging a bullet. Some took a bullet or two and were struggling to breathe…
Some had been violently raped and were still bleeding down there…
So many of these rape victims used to wake up screaming like crazy…some had become delirious…some begged the Muktijoddha to shoot them and relieve them of their pain!
There were some rape victims who were pregnant and had to put vermilion on their forehead and pretend to be married.
(Text inspired by Journalist Debabrata Mukhopaddhay’s account.)
– Deep Be.
Image: Collected (Google/Facebook)
