Experiences of Refugee Women After Partition (1947-1962): A Case Study of the Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal

Abstract

Partition and migration can be considered as a mirroring face of Indian independence. A huge number of refugees entered in India after partition, and among them a considerable number were women. This particular gender unfortunately bore the most lasting scars of partition, both physical and mental, as refugees on one hand and for being women on the other. Adjustment in the new land was very difficult, rather challenging for them. Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal is in fact flooded with the stories of sufferings of those women thereby containing a significant history frozen in the memories of those surviving eyewitnesses. This paper is an attempt to seek attention to those unknown parts of human history.