Minara Begum was born in Lathigram in Cachar district of Assam. She lost her father, Usman Ali, at a very young age. When she grew up, she was married to Rahimuddin who is a daily wage labourer. In the third week of July of 2009, she gave birth to a daughter, Shahanara Begum and on August 8, 2009, she was declared an illegal foreigner and deported to the Kokrajhar detention camp, along with her new-born child, who was barely 15 days old.
Shahanara grew up in the prison with her mother. Minara’s father and grandfather were residents of Thaligram; her grandfather had been living there since 1946 and they have the documents to prove it. Despite having all the documents like land deed and legacy data, she still couldn’t produce them on time, neither did she have the necessary documents to prove that she was Usman Ali’s daughter.
