Asami: the accused

Asami: The Accused

No, no! Don’t confuse, ‘asami’ with ‘Assami’. When I was hearing cases sitting next to the additional district & session judge 1, I heard invariably ‘assami’ killed, ‘assami’ brutally attacked, stolen bike, molested, etc. I was surprised, why would assamese come and create havoc in this area? My mind was preoccupied with the location of Assam and neighbouring countries nonetheless I had given my ears to the trial room. The map of Indian subcontinent and some stories & news flashed in my mind. The reporting that some Bangladeshi and Pakistani sneaked through Forbesganj, a subdivision of Araria bordering Viratnagar (Nepal) refreshed.
Had Bangladeshi been pronounced in the court I would not have been disquiet. This region as has been alleged is infested by illegal Bangladeshi migrants and terrorists find porous boundary a cake walk to enter the country through it.
I reasoned out my self that I have already spent about two months in the region but I have not seen a single Assami in this locality. Since they belong to mongloid race so it is not difficult to point them out even they try to disappear in crowds in the Gangatic region. But this principle can not be applied in case of Pakistani and Bangladeshi. They belong to same racial group as of the inhabitants of the Gangatic plain. Though, in Forbesgang and Joghbani some Nepales could be seen wading through the crowded markets. They could also be distinguished from the Assami by their facial features and stature.
I had been in the company of many Assamese in Delhi. I found them very friendly and charming. They are so naïve that they do not even utter Hindi of ‘banana’ when they interact with Hindi speaking citizens, then how could they terrorize the life of residents of Araria? Moreover, this region is so remote that posting of government officials in this region is considered as punishment, why would Assami come to this place?
In the recent past there had been some strayed cases of conflict and violence between Assamese and Biharis. Such conflicts are not deep rooted but are an aberration of politicization of the regional interests. Illegal outfits capitalize these situations and fan it further to enhance their bargaining power with the legitimate democratic governments. The harmless and innocent people are generally bear the burnt of this gimmick politics. Some time foxes wearing sheep’s skin are seen in the formal power structure and are working as conduit. The recent attack on the Bihari students in Assam who had gone to appear in examination is nothing more than a nefarious design of such berserk. Its reaction in Bihar, such as attacking Assamese passengers in trains reflects the presence of their cousins in Bihar too.
However, these are small and strayed incidences when we weigh the long associations of our neighbouring states. Racial provocations and regional obsessions are temporary in nature. Rationality and conscience do overtake them. These phenomena come on the surface when people are confused and entangled with many faces of reality. This state of frustration is generally being vented out by violating humanistic norms by the persons of weak character. While majority in the society resist such peculiarity.
Sorry, my dear readers, I am little wandered off from the crux of the story which I wanted to share with you. Actually ‘asami’ has nothing to do with any group of people. It is an Arabic word which has traveled thousand of kilometers and has crossed many seas before assimilating in our culture and becoming part of it. It has witnessed many kingdoms and emperors coming and passing by. It stood tall even in post-modern phase, which is dominated by westernization. However, in courts it remains to connote the same meaning i.e. ‘accused’ while its literal meaning is ‘customer’.
In courts proceedings one would regularly face such traditional words and actions which majority would fail to comprehend. I observed that in the trial room every one was looking blank except the pleaders and the judges. The communications between the two were abstract. The trials depicted in the Hindi movies are nonetheless significantly different from the real trial. In a nutshell the proceedings appear unwieldy. The legal process is really difficult to comprehend. In India, where literacy rate is not very high, even after diluting the definition of literate the figure for literates reaches about 65 percent. Its means 35 percent are completely illiterates. We can now think of the legal awareness expected to be present among the people of our country. Nevertheless, our courts are bursting with the complaints, litigations, civil suits and title cases. This is high time to think about the delivery of justice as well as other aspects of judicial system.

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