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Belief, and Practices: Justice for Noorjahan. 2006
Photographic installation
Photos taken in 1994 by Shahidul Alam, founder and director of Drik, during a sensational court trial in a rural area of Bangladesh. The imam and 8 men of a village shalish (an arbitral court) were accused of having pushed a woman to suicide. The woman, Nurjahan Begum, had been left by her husband. She returned to her parents, who arranged a new marriage. Nurjahan's father had consulted with the imam, who had agreed to this arrangement and annulling the previous marriage. However, the imam revoked his own decision and declared the new marriage to be illegal. The shalish demanded to publicly dishonor Nurjahan and her second husband by throwing 101 pebbles at them. As this punishment did not seem sufficient to them, Nurjahan was ordered to commit suicide. She followed those orders a day later by poisoning herself.
Women rights groups demanded the examination of the case, which led to the conviction of the imam and the 8 men of the shalish to the highest penance of 7 years of forced labor.
© Photos of the room: Haupt & Binder
Exhibited photos: Drik Picture Library Ltd.
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Drik Picture Library Ltd.
Founded in 1989 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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Shahidul Alam
* 1955 Dhaka, Bangladesh; lives there.
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