WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
Photo - 42-year-old
Dr Rafat Seema, a teacher by profession,
who stepped forward to help the families of those accused in
Hyderabad's Macca Masjid blasts.
By Arfa Khanum Sherwani
Hyderabad (Women’s
Feature Service) – The capital of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, is known as a city
of the former nizams, historical monuments, centres of learning like the
Osmania University, institutions of cyber technology – and for the infamous
Mecca Masjid blasts of May 2007. The blasts that took place in a 17th century
mosque shattered the peace for which the city was noted. Nine lives were lost,
and many more died later in the twin blasts at the Gokul Chat Bhandar and
Lumbini Park, which took place a few months later.
Soon after the
blasts, dozens of young men in the city were picked up by the police and
charged for waging a war against the country. While the accused were in jails
and their cases were being heard in the courts, their families went through
harrowing times despite not being involved in any way with the blasts,
'tainted' because of their relationship with the accused. Many, including
elderly parents and young children, faced social boycott, were thrown out of
rented accommodation and forced into a penurious existence. Even those inclined
to help them stayed away for fear of a police backlash.
That was when Dr
Rafat Seema, 42, a teacher by profession, who is now working on her second
doctorate, felt she had to step in to help the women in these families. She met
with a lot of resistance initially, and people advised her against involving
herself in an issue that was so controversial.
But Seema was
determined to push ahead. She began by setting up the ‘NISA Research and
Resource Centre for Women,’ and today she is the general secretary of the
organisation. “We work as an NGO based on individual contributions. We do not
have any employees. All our programmes are sustained through volunteer work
done by women. They could be PhD students from
Soon women from
almost all the corners of
According to Seema,
it was a complex situation and demanded a lot of time and commitment from
everyone involved. “We began by giving these women some money to buy sewing
machines or open a shop or boutique. Setting up small enterprises and running
them required training. Those who were educated were given jobs of teachers,
tutors or social workers,” she says.
Meanwhile, the
imprisoned men faced difficult times fighting tough legal battles. Every day
they spent away from home meant no income for their families. Recalls one of these men, now out of prison
and an electrician by profession, “My world was completely devastated. Even my
good friends were reluctant to talk to me. It was in such a situation that NISA
extended a helping hand. If NISA wasn’t there as a source of support when I was
in jail and after I was freed, I don’t know what I would have done. I don’t
know what would have happened to my family. I owe a lot to this organisation,”
he says, adding, “I only had to go to jail but it was my family which was
really punished. They were alienated from the rest of the world. Only Seema
baaji would go to my house and talk to the women, consoling them and helping
them whenever possible.”
Another young man,
acquitted by the court in 2008, could complete the final year of his Bachelor
of Unani Medicine and Surgery degree. He now runs a clinic. Says he, “No one
wanted to marry a ‘terrorist’, even though I was proved innocent. But Seema
baaji helped me find a bride.”
Seema puts it simply,
“There is an entire life left to live. More than anything, what these broken
people need is human support and the assurance that they have people by their
side.”
Despite the hostile
environment and repeated visits to the police station to face repetitive
interrogation, Seema – who prefers to remain covered in a ‘burqa’ (veil) from
head to toe – was undeterred. After all, showing sympathy for those jailed for
terrorism could invite the charge that she was “anti-national”. So how did she
muster the required courage to come out publicly in support of the prisoners?
NISA’s initiative was the first of its kind in
Seema remembers those
difficult days well, “Yes, just their arrests made them ‘traitors’ in the eyes
of the Hyderabadis. We did initially face a lot of road blocks. The police
would often come and ask questions of us. I felt resilient because I knew
instinctively that I was on the right path. In any case, I also knew that even
if they were convicted, even criminals and terrorists have some basic rights
and those rights need to be protected.”
She also points out
how the fundamental rights of women and children related to these men were
violated in the process, “What was their crime? Can you imagine the suffering
of the relatives of innocent men, wrongly picked up by the police? Nobody is
even prepared to listen to their side of the story!”
Today, many of those
accused in the Macca Masjid blasts have been pronounced by the courts as
innocent and their long months of suffering have come to an end. Although it is
impossible to make up for that lost time, life still beckons. As Seema says,
“Their return to the mainstream is not a matter of a day or two; it is a
process. It will take time. The best thing we can do for them in order to
rehabilitate them fully is to trust them.”
In this process
of building trust, she has also reminded people that dignity and rights are an
intrinsic part of being human.
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