Bemari Basti, Assam’s former leprosy colony in Upper Assam has hit the news. It is a colony along the embattled Assam – Nagaland border, of Rajabari  Christian Gaon 40 km of Jorhat town. It is inhabited by 15 odd families. 

Though the last person of the village suffering from leprosy died decades ago but still the villagers of this village suffer the disease lingering stigma. As leprosy was thought to be highly contagious, the policy of segregating the leprosy patients was decided under the Leapers Act 1898.

When the residents of this village heard of the National Register of Citizen(NRC), they did not pay much heed as they thought that it would be like other government schemes which would have no impact on their lives.
Totally unaware of the consequences of statelessness and possibly jail they were reluctant to apply to the NRC. When someone from the Panchayat has told them of the consequence they could face, the villagers applied for enrollment of NRC.

All 15 villagers found their names included in the NRC list published on 30th July 2018. In spite of being legal citizens of the state, the villagers always found themselves as a bad apple. The villagers are leading a miserable life with no roads, no electricity, no drinking water. They feel a prison to be a far better place than their village. Their basic rights have been scrapped off from them. 

Popularly known as ‘’Village of the Diseased’’ was established in 1955 by Mary Kirby Berry, a medical missionary who at that time was leading the Christian Leprosy Clinic.

The nearest grocery shop, high school to the village is located at a distance of 6 km from the village.  Women deliver babies without any medical facilities as they have to walk several kilometers to reach the nearest hospital. Though today not a single leprosy patient survives, still people from neighbouring villages hesitate to employ them as laborers.