Mina- A defendant woman

The Kalabagan is a slum situated at New Market area in Jessore town. Mina lives in that slum. She is the member of Kalabagan women group organized by IED. People of the area know her as respondent woman. She is the only daughter of her parents Fazer Ali and Sufia Begum. At the age of seven months, her father was died. Her mother continued mina’s education till class IX amid bearing endurance. Then she got married and gone through secondary school successfully with direct support of her mother. Afterward her husband Ajgor Ali Mridha brought Mina to Dhaka. Her husband used to work as manager at B X Company of Hazaribag tenary in Dhaka. They started living in Sipahibag Bhuiyan village in a rented house and became a mother of four children. Her time was very happy together with husband but this happiness did not last long. Suddenly her husband being addicted to drug and started torture upon Mina and stopped providing money for maintaining kitchen market. At a time, her husband stopped coming to her own house. During this time she became very much vulnerable with her four children. Then she was trying to find the ways to live and started sugarcane business from only small amount of capital Tk. 1500. No sooner past few days, she became vulnerable to breast tumor. With the assistance of one NGO she was able to manage proper surgery and became cured.

She passed 10 years at Sipahibag Bhuiyan Village, Dhaka thinking that her husband that one day he would return to good path leaving drug addiction and other bad habits. Certainly she came to know that her husband has remarried to another woman. Knowing this matter, Mina divorced her husband and returned to F block of Kalabagan slum in Jessore where her mother lives on. Here she joined with women group organized by IED.

For the first time, she started hotel business with her mother. After few days she joined as supervisor at plastic factory in her area. She has the inner force to raise voice for women rights. She protests against all kinds of injustice in her society in keeping the motto that what happened to her own life so as not to occur in the life of other women. Mina manages financial support through collecting donation from the people if any person becomes sick or anyone unable to manage expenses of marriage of their daughter. She makes protest while any kind of torture occurs on woman in her area. Mina informs that one woman labor of her plastic factory being tortured by her husband, snatch her offspring and make her out from own house. Mina filed a case with that woman labor at legal aid office in Jessore knowing the incident and brings back offspring to her mother through litigation. Lastly she assists the victim woman to get back her due justice.  

Recently Mina successfully stopped two early marriages in her area with support of group members and two elected representatives. The name of the two victim girls are Sumi (14) and Chandni (13 years 5 months). One boy named Sumon is 14 years old. Sumon and Sumi live in the Kalabagan slum side by side. Sumon is orphan boy. His grandmother settles marriage with Sumi in condition of Tk. 10000 as dowry. The Marriage of Chandni was supposed to hold with a person in the area who already married twice before and had three children. Firstly Mina informed the elected woman member knowing the message of early marriage. She insisted to woman member that at any cost, this marriage should be stopped. Mina shared this issue with group members and organized meeting with them. Through this meeting the attended two elected representatives, group members, staff of IED and lawyer discussed about detrimental side of early marriage and punishment for who arranged early marriage. After the meeting three guardians reached at reconciliation and admit that organizing early marriage was the big mistake.

Being involved with local representatives and union council, Mina smartly assisted the members of Kalabagan group and other women to get services from government and non governmental institutions. In this year, she assisted to get 5 persons for maternity allowance, 2 persons for old age allowance and 3 persons for disability allowance identity card. She attends any kind arbitration process to solve the local problem with coordination of union parishad chairman and members as well. Mina regarded as a defendant woman in her area. She wants nothing but women empowerment and rights in the family and society.