This issue carries a report by Kaneez Fathima on Sameera Begum’s death in circumstances linked to indebtedness. This is a fact finding report of the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee of Hyderabad.
(Based on the fact-finding done as part of Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee)
Kaneez Fathima
Research Associate
Sameera Begum, a 16 year old girl was (reportedly) pushed from the top of historic monument Charminar on 11 June 2009 at 4.30 pm. Before her death, she lived with her family in the densely populate area of Talaab Katta of old city of Hyderabad. Her family earns their livelihood through selling mirrors. Sameera is survived by her father, mother, a sister and four brothers. This family has enough earnings to feed themselves and lead a happy life. But the male persons of the family spend their earnings on alcohol, pushing the family into debt. Sameera‟s mother Khursheed Begum had taken a loan of Rs.6000/ from one Arshad. The amount to be repaid per day was Rs.200/. Because the interest was 40%, they had to repay more than double amount of what they had borrowed. While giving loan, Arshad had asked Khursheed Begum to send the installments to his house through her daughters. Therefore, Khursheed Begum was sending her daughters Sameera and Sameena to Arshad‟s house with installment of Rs.200/ everyday. This way within few days, she had repaid the amount of Rs.5000/, but due to financial and household problems, she could not send rest of the amount on time. This was the time when the real trouble started. Arshad started giving them warnings and threats. His first warning was that if Khursheed Begum could not send installments, then a fine of Rs.200/ per day would be charged, so the amount they had to pay per day was Rs.400/. Even then, they were not able to pay the amount, so his next threat for not paying the amount was that he would take away all the household items and also the female persons from the house.
Khursheed Begum was worried about the black mailing done to her and her daughters and was worried as to how she would pay rest of the amount. Arshad started giving threatening calls on mobile as well, which was owned by Khursheed Begum but was used by Sameera. This way Sameera was also worried about the threatening calls and discussed with her mother that they should arrange rest of the amount and repay the loan as soon as possible. Therefore, to arrange the money, on 9th June Khursheed Begum went to one of her relative for help. After her mother had left, Sameera told her sister that she is going out for some urgent work and she never returned. When Khursheed Begum tried to contact her on mobile, each time a new voice would pick up the call and say that her daughter is kidnapped and she can never speak to her daughter.
Khursheed Begum did not even give any complaint in police station for fear that word would spread in society. On the same day, Arshad visited their house and demanded for repayment of loan. Khursheed Begum begged him to give some more time, as she was worried for her daughter who is missing. The family was searching Sameera for two days. On third day i.e. on 11th June evening, Arshad went to Khursheed Begum, collected the amount and also took away the notebook in which all the details of the repayment of loan was accounted. While leaving, he told Khursheed Begum that a girl of Talaab Katta has fallen down from Charminar and asked her to go and enquire whether she is Sameera. When the family watched a news channel, they went into shock.
The family described what happened from 9th June to 11th June as follows: On 9th June Sameera told her sister that she was going out for some urgent work, went to her aunt‟s house, and borrowed a pair of slippers. She informed her aunt that she was going out along with a lady named Nazia, who runs a beauty parlour at Yakutpura, Hyderabad. On the same day, Sameera was kidnapped, kept in a detention centre, maintained by the illegal financers. Her mother claims that Sameera was tortured physically and mentally for three days and killed by Arshad. Arshad thought Sameera would immediately die if she is thrown from the top of Charminar and nobody would know that she was killed. However, it was fortunate that she survived the fall and also told all the details as to who kidnapped her and who threw her from Charminar. Otherwise everyone would have believed the story of police who interpreted it as a suicide related to love affair. Surprisingly, even after Sameera‟s statement, police continued to do so.
Sameera, one can see, was the victim of illegal financing racket. During the fact-finding, one got to know that this incident is not the first of its kind and that earlier too many such incidents happened and were labeled as suicide and love affairs. Due to poverty, people especially women of old city of Hyderabad become easy prey of illegal financers. Their methods of recovery also involve black mail, kidnapping, sexual harassment and finally murder. Illegal financers flourish in the old city of Hyderabad because the poor and lower middle class people are not provided loans from the banks, because they cannot produce any documents as security. As Sameera‟s mother Khursheed Begum said, “this is not just an issue of mine or my family, nor of any religion or any community, but this is the problem of whole society”.
New arrivals in English under different subject headings:
Women- Social reform- Modern India:
Women and social reform in modern India a reader volume1 & 2/ ed. Sumit Sarkar and Tanika Sarkar.-New Delhi: Orient Longman pvt.ltd, 2007.
Social condition- Developing countries:
Law and disorder in the Post colony/ ed. Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff. - Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Religion:
Of revelation and revolution: Christanity, Colonialism and Consciousness in South Africa/ Jean Comaroff and John Comaroff. - Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1991.
Religious Conversion:
Conversion to modernities: the globalization of Christianity/ Editor by Peter Van der Veer. - New York: Routledge, 1996.
Politics:
Reflections on Violence/ John Keane.- New York: Verso,1996.
Egypt as a women: nationalism, gender and politics/ Beth Baron.- Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 2005.
Mythology:
The Devadasi and the Saint: the life and times of Bangalore Nagarathnamma. - Chennai: East West books, 2007.
Journalism- India:
21st Century journalism in India/ ed.by Rajan Nalini. - New Delhi: Sage publishing, 2007.
Hindutva: explosing the Idea of Hindu nationalism/ Jyotirmaya Sharma. - New Delhi: Penguin books, 2003.
Secularism- India- History:
Enlightenment in the colony: the Jewish question and the crisis of post-colonial culture/ Aamir R Mufti. - New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998.
Law:
Troubling confessions: speaking guilt in Law & Literature.- London: The University of Chicago Press,2000.
Law's stories: narrative and rhetoric in the law/ Peter Brooks.- London: Yale University Press,1996.
The nature of the judicial process/ Benjamin N Cardozo. - Delhi: University law publishing Co.Pvt.Ltd, 2008.
The body in pain: the making and unmaking of the world/ Elaine Scarry. – New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
The muslim law of India/ Tahir Mahmood.-New Delhi: Lexis Nexis,2002.
Handbook on Law of Domestic Violence: Lawyers Collective/ ed by India Jaising, Asmita Basu & Brototi Dutta.- Nagpur: Lexis Nexis,2009.
The mythology of Modern Law/ Peter Fitzpatrick. - New York: Routledge,1992.
Law- Philosophy:
Foucault‟s Law/ Ben Golder and Peter Fitzpatrick. - NewYork: Routledge, 2009.
Heracles' bow: rhetoric of the human science/ James Boyd White. - Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
Law- Political power:
Governing the present: administering economic, social and personal life/ Peter Miller and Nikolas Rose.- New Jersey: Polity Press, 2008.
Domestic Violence
Ending Domestic violence through non- violence: a manual for PWDVA protection officers: Protection of women from Domestic violence Act, 2005.- [s.l.]: Lawyers Collective, 2009.
Philosophy
Violence in modern philosophy/ Piotr Hoffman.-Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Muslims- India:
Family, Kinship and Marriage among Muslims in India/ Editor by Imtiaz Ahmad. – New Delhi: Manohar book service, 1985.
Representing Indian Muslims: selected Parliamentary speeches of Asaduddin Owaisi/ Editor by Mohammed Ayub Ali Owaisi.- New Delhi: Pharos Media & Publishing Pvt.Ltd, 2007.
The new voices of Islam: reformation politics and modernity: a reader/ Editor Mehran Kamrava. - New York: I.B.Tauris & Co.Ltd, 2006.
Education:
Fifty year of higher education in India: the role of the university grants commission/ Amrik Singh. - New Delhi: Sage publication.
Political theory:
The agamben effect/ Editor Alison Ross.- Durhan: Duck University of Press, 2007.
Gender studies:
Gender studies: student project series: isn't this plate Indian?/ Ws 10 Class of 2009.- Pune:
Krantijyoti Savitribaiphule, 2009.
Medical scientists-United states:
The art and politics of science/ Harold Varmus.- New York: Harold Varmus, 2009.
Genocide:
Between vengeance and forgiveness/ Martha Minow. - Boston: Beacon Press, 1998.
Feminism:
At the heart of freedom: Feminism, sex and equality/ Drucilla Cornell. - Princeton University Press, 1998.
Culture Studies:
Touching feeling: affect, pedagogy, performativity/ Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.- Durham: Duck University Press, 2003.
Economic policy:
The market that failed: neoliberal economic reforms in India/ C.P Chandrasekhar and Jayathi Ghosh. - New Delhi: Left Word books, 2002.
Children:
Indian miniature painting: manifestation of a creative mind/ Daljeet and P.C.Jain. - New Delhi: Brijibasi Art Press Ltd, 2006.
Reproductive health:
Reproductive health in India: history, politics, controversies/ Editor Sarah Hodges. - New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2006.
Women scientists:
Lilavati's daughters: the women scientists of India/ Editor by Rohini Godbole. – Bangalore: Indian Academy of Sciences, 2008.
Human services-India:
Serving the nation: cultures of service, association and citizenship in colonial India/ Carey Anthony Watt. – New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005.
New arrivals in Reports, Policy documents, Annual Reports etc..
POLITICS
Kashmir: Will the Pain Never End? Impunity of policing and aimlessness of politics: A report/ A publication of HRF, PDF & APCLC Dec, 2007. - Hyderabad: Humanrightsforum, 2007.
Communalism
Death, Displacement & Deprivation The War in Dantewara: A Report/ Human Rights Forum. - Hyderabad: Human Rights Forum Publication, 2007.
From Kandhamal to Karavali: The Ugly Face of Sangh Parivar A report on the attacks on Christians in Orissa & Karnataka. - Hyderabad: Human Rights Forum, 2009.
Dissertations
Jatara as a Mode of Communication for development: a Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of Degree of Master of Philosophy 2009/ by Srinivas Panthukala.- Hyderabad: Osamania University, 2009.
Contents of Journals
Social Scientist 432-433
Volume: 37 Numbers: 5-6 May-June 2009
Economics and the Historians by Irfan Habib
Culture as a Site of Struggle by K.N. Panikkar
Tax and Price Relationship in a Regime of ‘Asiatic Despotism’ by Shireen Moosvi
Tracing Sources of Principles of Governance by Iqtidar Alam Kham
Origin of Species and Darwinian Philosophy by Tapan Kumar Mishra
Contemporary education dialogue
ISSN 0973-1849 Volume 5:2 Spring 2008
Early Literacy Project- Explorations and Reflections
Part 1: Theoretical Perspectives
Keerti Jayaram
Early Literacy Project- Explorations and Reflections
Part 2: Interventions in Hindi Classrooms
Keerti Jayaram
Towards Understanding Indigenous Discourse on Childhood: Preliminary Observations from Study on Teachers in Lucknow.
Rachita Bisht.
Classics with commentary
Knowledge of Language: Noam Chomsky‟s Innateness Thesis.
Ayesha Kidwai.
Reviews
End Page: Learning Teacher: Reviewing the Narrative of a Teacher‟s Journey.
Alex M. George.
Asian Journal of Women’s Studies
Volume 15, Number 1
Su-lin YU
Third-Wave Feminism: A Transnational Perspective
Huma AHMED-GHOSH
Windows in India: Issues of Masculinity and Women‟s Sexuality
Eva Yin-I CHEN
Shanghai Baby as a Chinese Chick-Lit:
Female Empowerment and Neoliberal Consumerist Agency
Pinelopi TOPALI
Constructions of Care in Modern Greece:
Gendered Relationships between Filipina Domestic Workers and Greek Employers
REVIEW ARTICLE
Jinting WU
Education, Cultural Identity and the Nation-State
BOOK REVIEW
Lijun YUAN
The Lady of Linshui: A Chinese Female Cult,
Brigitte Baptandier, Standord: Stanford University Press, 2008
Shoba S. RAJGOPAL
Gender Stereotypes in Corporate India: A Glimpse,
Sujoya Basu, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2008.
Asian Journal of Women’s Studies
Volume 15, Number 2
Doris CHANG
Two women, two visions of Nationhood for Taiwan: Madame
Chiang Kai and Hsiu-lien Annette Lu.
Jung-Hwa OH
The Mother-Daughter Relationship Empowerment in the Writing of Korean-American Women.
Rita BRARA
Why a Cousin Becomes a Spouse. Elementary, says Levi-Strauss:
A Tribute to Claude Levi-Strauss from India and Vistas of the Road Ahead.
Carolyn SOBRITCHEA
The Rights-Based Approaches to Gender and Development Work in Asia
REVIEW
Suwanna SATHA-ANAND
Reconnecting the Lost Lineage: Challenges to Institutional Denial of Buddist Women‟s Monasticism in Thailand, Varaporn Chamsanit, Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University, October 2006.
BOOK REVIEW
Delia Darvin
Service Encounters: Class, Gender and the Market for Social Distinction in China, Amy Hanser, and Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2008.
Dawn H. CURIE
Prostitution and Beyond: An Analysis of Sex Work in India, Rohini Sahni, V.Kalyan Shankar and Hemant Apte(eds),New Delhi: Sage Publications,2008.
Biblio: A Review of books
Volume XIV NOS. 5 & 6 MAY- JUNE 2009
Solo by Rana Dasgupta Mitali Saran
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer Shougat Dasgupta
A place Within: Rediscovering India by M.G.Vassanji Sanjay Sipahimalani
Stranger to History: A son’s Journey through Islamic Lands Adeel Mehdi
(Un) settled: Notes from a Shifting Life by Kamini Karlekar Rashmi Sadana
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteen
Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer Kranti Saran
My China Diary 1956-88 by K. Natwar Singh Srikanth Kondapalli
India China Relationships: The Border and Beyond by
Mohan Guruswamy & Zorawar Daulet Singh Inder Malhortra
Kashmir—1947-1965: A Story Retold by Manoj Joshi Amitabh Mattoo
Words, Words, Words: Adventures in Diplomacy by T.P.
Sreenivasan Parshotam Mehra
Electoral Politics in Indian States: Lok Sabba Election
In 2004 and Beyond edited by Sandeep Shastri, K.C.
Suri and Yogendra Yadav Paranjoy Guha
Thakurta
A time of Transition: Rajiv Gandhi to the 21st
Century By Mani Shankar Aiyar Harsh Sethi
Narendra Modi: The Architect of a Modern
State by M.V. Kamath and Kalindi Randeri Shiv Visvanathan
Madhavrao Scindia: A Life by Vir Sanghvi and
Namita Bhandare Jawed Naqvi
Fascing Hindutva: Saffron Politics and Dalit
Mobilisation by Bhandare Jawed Naqvi
History in the Vernacular edited by Raziuddin
Aquil and Partha Chatterjee Aditya Nigam
Creative Pasts, Historical Memory and Identity in
Western India 1700-1960 by Prachi Deshpande Veena Naregal
Venomous Touch: Notes on Caste, Culture and
Politics by Ravikumar; Translated from Tamil
By R.Azhagarasan with a Foreword by Susie
Tharu Paul Sharrad
Khairlanji: A Strange and Bitter Crop by
Anand Teltumbde Shivam Vij
The Illustrated History of the freedom
Struggle; Project Editor and Photo
Research by Veena Baswani Rudrangshu Mukherjee
Trade and Globalisation and Liberalisation and
Development by Deepak Nayyar Prem Shankar Jha
Eunuch Park: Fifteen Stories of Love and Destruction
By Palash Krishan Mehrotra Trisha Gupta
Etudes by Aseem Kaul Rahul Soni
Family Values by Abha Dawesar Mihir S. Sharma
Savage Humans and Stray Dogs: A Study in
Aggression Patricia Uberoi
I Wish You Were Here: Memories of a Gay Life
By Sunil Gupta Shohini Ghosh
Whistling in the Dark: Twenty-one Queer
Interviews edited by R.Raj Rao and Dibyajyothi
Sarma Ponni Arasu
And Shalini
Krishan
EASTERN CRESCENT
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 7 JULY 2009
QUR’ANIC WISDOM
A true Muslim cannot do injustice
MIRROR
Giving Cause To Separatism
BETWEEN THE LINES
Gujarati Muslims share toppers in Education
SPECIAL REPORT
Stem The Rot In The Madrasas
INFOCUS
Last farewell to iconoclastic women litterateur; Kamala Suraiyya
OUR NATION
1 We must change ourselves, if want to change society
2 Muslims Boost Congress Tally
MIDDLE EAST
US Interpreter Who Witnessed Torture in Iraq Shot Herself With Service
Rifle
GLOBAL ISSUES
Obama Reaches Out To Muslims in Historic Cairo Speech
NEWS SNIPPET
Mumbai Gives Warm Welcome to AUDF MP Badruddin Ajmal
ONE-2-ONE
An Exclusive Interview With Obama‟s Veiled Advisor Mogahed
EDUCATION
Almas Sayed Secures Laurels at HSC Board Exam
COVER STORY
Insurgency Breeds Crime and Mayhem in Kashmir
NORTH EAST
Northeast in the age of coalition politics:
The touchstone of Meghalaya
DIALOGUE
Salman Khursheed starts on a wrong note
INDIAN JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES
Volume 16 Number 1 January- April 2009
Articles
African American Travel Writing and the Politics of Mobility:
The Narrative of Nancy Prince
Pramod K.Nayar
Bodies Gone Awry: The Abjection of Sexuality in Development
Discourse in Contemporary Kerala
J.Devika
Dowry among Indian Muslims: Ideals and Practices
Abdul Waheed
Research Notes
NGOs in Bangladesh: Are They Successful in Increasing
Awareness among Vulnerable Women?
Nahid Sultana and Naznin Islam
Do women Differ in Their Investment Information
Processing Style?
Manish Mittal and R.K. Vyas
Book Resources
New Resources
Compiled by Anju Vyas
INDIAN JOURNAL OF GENDER STUDIES
Volume 16 Number 2 May- June 2009
Articles
Not an „Angel‟, Not a „Whore‟: Surrogates as
„Dirty‟ Workers in India
Amrita Pande
Chhadi Lage Chham, Vidya Yeyi Gham Gham
(The Harder the Stick Beats, the Faster the Flow of
Knowledge): Dalit Women‟s Struggle for Education
Shailaja Paik
Magic Moments of Struggle: Women‟s Memory of the
Naxalbari Movement in West Bengal, India (1967-75)
Mallarika Sinha Roy
On the Etiology and Politics of Sexual Phenomenology
Ajnesh Prasad
Research Notes
Human Rights of Women Prisoners in India:
A Case study of Jaipur Central Prison for Women
Anupma Kaushik and Kavita Sharma
Book Resources
New Resources
Compiled by Anju Vyas
Published articles of Anveshi members:
Sannata: the silence of a small town/ by Meenakshi Mukherjee
The Book Review, March 2009.
The strange and the unfamiliar/ by Meenakshi Mukherjee
The Book Review, May 2009.
Aadollani Bathakaniyyara? / Jupaka Subadra,
Bhumika: Sthree Vaada Pathrika, June 2009.
Aadollani Batakaniyyara? / Jupaka Subadra,
Surya Newspaper: 25-06-2009.
Andodhi nippu dappulu/ Jupaka Subadra
Surya Newspaper, 6.07.2009
Arundhati mala kaadu- Maadiga/ Mary Kumari Madiga,
Bhumika: Sthree Vaada Pathrika, June 2009.
**************************