Biki Dey, the son of Subrata Dey who passed away under mysterious circumstances in the Goalpara detention camp last year, had to discontinue his education due to the financial misfortune that befell the family after Subrata’s death. But now, with a little help from our allies the Bharatiya Nagorik Adhikar Suraksha Manch, we at CJP are reiterating our commitment to Child Rights, one of our four pillars, to help Biki Dey resume his education.
Biki tried to provide for the family who was barely earning a living making cloth bags. He picked up odd jobs across the country, but was financially exploited and never paid for the work he did.
“The people who hired me said that they couldn’t pay me because I was not 18. I went all the way to Chennai for a job and until recently was working as an unpaid apprentice with a tailor in Assam. Interestingly, my being a minor was never a deterrent in making me work, just when it came to pay for my labour,” Biki told Team CJP at a public meeting in Mumbai on October 11, 2019.
Now that the final NRC has been published, and 19,06,657 people have been excluded from the final list, CJP’s campaign has become even more focused. Our objective now, is to help these excluded people defend their citizenship before Foreigners’ Tribunals. For this we have already started conducting a series of workshops to train paralegals to assist people at FTs. We will also be publishing a multi-media training manual containing simplified aspects of legal procedure, evidentiary rules, and judicial precedents that will ensure the appeals filed against the NRC exclusions in the FTs are comprehensive and sound, both in fact and in law. This will assist our paralegals, lawyers and the wider community in Assam to negotiate this tortuous process. For this we need your continued support. Please donate now to help us help Assam.
That’s when we swung into action and with the unrelenting support of our allies – Bharatiya Nagorik Adhikar Suraksha Manch, The Need Academy and Nanda Ghosh, Biki Dey is resuming his studies. Biki will now attend standard 12 classes at the Need Academy in Bijni.
The Needs Academy and Nanda Ghosh have taken the responsibility to provide Biki with expenses for college fees and books, while CJP is going to cover all of Biki’s boarding, lodging and other additional expenses.
No child should be devoid of a good education. We wish Biki good luck on his new journey and pledge to continue to fight for every Indian who is deprived of their basic human rights.
Related:
Poverty haunts family of Subrata Dey
Bengali Hindu labeled “Bangladeshi”, found dead in Assam Detention Camp