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Uttar Bankata (Bankura, Bengal): Mahasina Khatun, a housewife from Uttar Bankata village in Bankura district, says police came to her house just before lunch on August 3.

“We are letting you go today because we see you have a child. Otherwise, we would have arrested you and taken you away. We will come back after a few days. By then, you will have to resolve the problem with your name in the electoral roll and prove that you are a citizen of this country,” Khatun recounts police as having said.

Khatun has since been running pillar to post, unable to eat or rest, in a desperate bid to return her name to the electoral rolls which were revised earlier this year in a controversial process by the Election Commission.

Khatun says she was born and brought up in a village in Bankura. She went to school here, got married here and has lived here all her life. She has voted repeatedly in elections. “During the SIR (special intensive revision), I filled out and submitted the form. But my name did not appear in the electoral rolls. I went to the block office for a hearing, yet my name was not included in the final voter list. I was not able to cast a vote last assembly election. Then I approached the (appellate) tribunal. My application is still pending. What crime have I committed?’’ she asks.

Residents of several small and nearby villages – Jalhari, Kapistha and Badulara – came forward to speak to this reporter, vowing to attest to the fact that they have known Mahasina Khatun since she was born.

“If the police come to arrest her, all of us will stand together as a shield to protect her,” said Hannan Molla of Badulara village.

6. People gathered at Badulara village on Friday evening to........

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