Column | Banojyotsna Lahiri: a modern love story

When Jawaharlal Nehru University PhD student Umar Khalid was arrested under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in September 2020, his friends and partner Banojyotsna Lahiri were shocked. Shock turned to anger when they saw police implicating him and other activists in the 2020 Delhi riots, in which 53 people were killed, three-quarters of them Muslims. “We thought this is such an unjust case,” says Lahiri. “We thought all we had to do was raise our voices and justice would prevail.”

But that was four years ago. The case has disappeared from the mainstream media. Khalid, who has given speeches urging people to respond to hate with love, is in jail without bail and without trial, despite no concrete evidence against him. Lahiri, 40, a researcher who grew up in a family of teachers and college professors in Kolkata, has given up her lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. “The thing I once wanted to do most has fallen out of consideration,” she says of life after the movement against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act).

She no longer has the concentration needed to teach. Instead, she works tirelessly, using humor and compassion to keep Khalid’s story alive. Sometimes she tells funny stories pitting Khalid against her other true love, footballer Lionel Messi, and sometimes she recounts intimate conversations from their weekly meetings in Tihar Jail. Despite mainstream media disdain, Khalid is now a household name, and it’s largely thanks to Lahiri and Khalid’s friends. “When you see someone close to you suffer this kind of injustice, you can’t go on with your life,” she says. “It becomes a part of your life.”

Desire for a just society

Lahiri’s fight for justice is emblematic of the love stories of modern dissidents who are increasingly under threat around the world. Think of Yulia Navalnaya, who accused Putin of killing her husband, Alexei Navalny, the Russian president’s biggest critic. “I urge you to stand with me. I ask you to share the anger with me,” she said in a video after Navalny mysteriously died in an Arctic prison. Or Sahba Husain, who voluntarily chose to spend two years under house arrest with her partner Gautam Navlakha, a journalist and human rights activist who was arrested on terrorism charges in the Bhima Koregaon case in 2018. He was recently released on bail. All of these love stories are based on a shared desire for a just, equal society.

Lahiri feels uncomfortable talking about herself. She thinks I called to talk about Khalid. “We don’t want people to forget,” she says. “It’s important that we keep talking.” And that’s exactly what the group of friends is doing. They organize meetings and discussions, run social media campaigns through accounts dedicated to Khalid and trending hashtags like #FreeUmar, give interviews or write and reach out to journalists, artists and lawmakers to raise awareness of the delays in the case. Many have expressed solidarity and some – like MPs Mahua Moitra and Manoj Kumar Jha – have raised Khalid’s case in Parliament. Just to clarify: She did not ask me to write this article.

Lahiri says the mood in the group is like a Ferris wheel. “Sometimes we get really high when someone says something or when Ravish Kumar makes a video. Sometimes we come down,” she says. “But we keep the wheel moving, we haven’t stopped.” Her survival strategy? Focus on the present and hope for the future without trying to predict it. And don’t talk about sad things either. She misses everything about Khalid, even his “annoying carelessness.” “He’s always forgetting things, someone is always cleaning up after him,” she says. “It used to be annoying when he was there, but now that I don’t have to do it anymore, I miss it and feel the emptiness.”

Learning about law and legislation

In Lahiri’s life, the weekly prison meeting, where she speaks to Khalid on an intercom across a glass pane, takes precedence over everything else. Then there is the whirlwind of bail applications and ensuring someone always shows up when Khalid is produced in court. She has changed jobs to have more time on the case. “I plan my life after the case. We all do,” she says. “I have learnt more about laws and legal issues than a normal citizen needs to know.” Lahiri follows UAPA cases in court and on the day we speak, she is hopeful because the Supreme Court has just reprimanded the National Investigation Agency in another case. The court has emphasised everyone’s right to a speedy trial, adding that if there are delays, the accused should be entitled to bail.

This single-minded focus on Khalid’s case and his long imprisonment have taken a toll on Lahiri’s body and mind. “The stress is there all the time. I have panic attacks and I’m anxious at night. I’ve gained weight, I haven’t been able to sleep properly and all of this is affecting my body at the same time,” she says, joking that Khalid’s health, on the other hand, has improved due to the prison routine and the exercise.

Over the past four years, Lahiri has found hope in student protests, the peasant movement and strangers offering love and support. “The children of Palestine who still play between the bombings give me hope,” she says.

The author is a Bengaluru-based journalist and co-founder of the India Love Project on Instagram.