My husband, Amulya Singh, was murdered.
As revenge against me.
Because I raised my voice against the illegal hooch units in my village.
And you know why I did that? Because the ten illegal liquor-making units were a menace. They were not only affecting the health of the men but also leading to domestic violence in families.
I’ve hated alcohol since my childhood. My uncle ran an illegal hooch unit in Daigottu village. My father was his regular customer and often returned home drunk and quarrelled.
When I was 10, I called the police station from a public telephone booth and told them about my uncle’s unit. The policemen arrived in a few minutes and dismantled the hooch unit. My uncle was very angry and scolded me. I wasn’t bothered. The incident gave me confidence to fight against such evils.
After Class VIII, I was forced to quit school because of our extreme poverty.
I got married when I was just 15 in 2008. I went to my husband’s house in Tirildih village around 45 kilometres from my house with rosy dreams.
To my horror I found that my husband and my mother-in-law were also alcoholics.
It led to frequent fights. I saw the other women suffer similar predicaments since alcohol consumption is high among the tribal population.
The root cause of the trouble was the hooch-making units in the village that were thriving with each passing day.
I realised that the only way to stop violence in homes, and stop men from drinking, was to destroy these units.
When I decided to campaign against the hooch units, naturally I faced stiff opposition from my husband and mother-in-law.
In the meantime, I studied without informing my family and completed Class X in 2016.
Studying made me more determined to stop the hooch menace.
I discussed the problem with the other women in the village and they supported me. We organised meetings and took out rallies and requested the administration to destroy the hooch units.
But nothing happened, despite our persistent efforts.
In 2017 we decided to take matters into our own hands and we broke down ten illegal hooch units.
It angered the hooch unit owners who decided to take revenge against me.
I still remember the day they invited my husband to a wedding party and made him drink liquor laced with poison.
He was found unconscious in an isolated spot in the village. We rushed him to the hospital but it was too late.
It’s four years since he died. But those behind his death are yet to be punished. Three people were arrested after I lodged a police complaint, but two of them got bail.
I am now the sole breadwinner of the family – my three young daughters and my mother-in-law. She stopped drinking after losing her son.
I grow vegetables on my land to run my family.
But my fight has inspired women in other villages to run similar campaigns. In 2019 Tata Steel Foundation honoured me with the Bhanumati Neelkanth Award for my bravery.
Despite losing my husband, I am satisfied that my fight has borne a result – not a single hooch unit has resumed business.
Photos by Gurvinder Singh and courtesy Malti Singh.
Gurvinder Singh is a journalist based at Kolkata.
