ABSTRACT
The chapter demonstrates how the understanding of borders that the Bangladeshi women prisoners had was different from the militarised state’s definition of borders. The women conceptualised and understood borders through their lived experiences which did not necessarily subscribe to the “logical” or “rational”, also known as the legal way of defining borders. Based on their understanding of borders, the women viewed their act of crossing the border within the continuum of bhool (mistake) and aporadh (crime). Their narratives and experiences of the criminal justice system, their understanding (or misunderstanding) of their crime, were based on their alternative understanding of borders. They did not see themselves as “criminals” and hence the process of acclimatisation to prison was a difficult one. The narratives of the women provided a telescopic view of the border from within the prison walls.
