Indrani Mukerjea is a name that made the rounds of all the newspapers and news channels in 2015. The infamous Sheena Bora case changed Indrani’s life forever. When Sheena was reported to be dead, Indrani became the prime suspect in her daughter’s murder case. In August 2015, Indrani Mukerjea was arrested for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012 and was held in judicial custody at the Byculla Jail in Mumbai.

The former media executive has been judged and found guilty by the public but rarely has anyone heard her side of the story. Now, Indrani has published her memoir Unbroken detailing what she says is the actual truth of the matter. 25 August 2015 was supposed to be a regular day in the life of Indrani Mukerjea. But a group of police officers entered her house and arrested her on charges of murdering her daughter. She was gearing up to celebrate her younger daughter’s birthday in the morning, and by the end of the night, she was arrested for killing her elder daughter.

The media caught a whiff of the case, and before it could get to the court, Indrani found herself being tried by the public. From accusations of filicide to questions about her ambition, Indrani Mukerjea found herself defending every bit of her existence. In Unbroken, she takes the reader from her childhood in Guwahati to the 2,460 days she spent in the Byculla jail as prisoner number 1468.

In a recent chat with All About Eve, Indrani Mukerjea opened up about her journey and why she chose to tell her story through a memoir.

AAE: To say your life has been tumultuous would be an understatement. But a lot of everything you have gone through is out there in public. So, what motivated you to pen down your side of the story?

Indrani: It might be out in public but the unfortunate bit is that my story has never really been told by me. Since 2015, the narrative has been run by people who don’t know me and have a little too much to say about how I had decided to live and the choices I had made. The book is my reply to a lot of bizarre moral judgements. I am absolutely fine with people having their opinions on me, but I would rather that they hear the story from me and get a peek into who I am as a person.

AAE: Was writing Unbroken a form of catharsis for you? Did it not make you relive some of the worst moments of your life that you would have rather forgotten?

Indrani: Strangely enough no, forgetting without processing pain is simply bottling up. And I didn’t want to bottle up. I wanted to pour my heart into a memoir that addresses every high and low I have gone through in life. I did revisit some harrowing times of my life, but in the process, I was able to heal. In some ways, this book was therapy. Through the process of writing this book, I went back and saw my life story from a detached point of view.

AAE: You have talked about how as soon as disaster hit, men and women descended upon you with their claws out. Do you think the reason for all the backlash you received is that you are an ambitious woman who paved your path?

Indrani: Instead of putting the focus on my ambition, which I am unapologetic about, I think a thing or two can be said about human envy. When someone is going through their lowest of lows, people go out there and hit them below the belt. And I wasn’t even able to defend myself during that time. My voice was taken away from me. My ambitious nature was widely discussed when I was arrested because women have it so much harder than men. But today, it’s refreshing to see women flouting rules made by society and charting their path. I want to see women reclaiming their ambition and make it a word of empowerment, as it should be.

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