By Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net
Through this platform of Dignity March, the survivors highlighted their stories and encouraged other survivors to break the silence and share their stories without feeling ashamed or stigmatised.
A day before the Dignity March embarked its journey, activist and gang-rape survivor Bhanwari Devi said in the press conference, “By organising and taking part in this march, we want to show a mirror to all the governments that nothing has changed and if a victim like us dares to protest against sexual violence, we still have to go through several ordeals. We want each and every rapist to be put behind bars and survivors should hold their heads high.”
Many prominent personalities from different fields have associated themselves with the Dignity March such as actor Tisca Chopra, Sudha Chandran, Stop Acid Attacks campaigner Laxmi Agarwal, CEO of EdelGive Foundation Vidya Shah, Centre for Law and Policy Research’s Jayna Kothari, among others.
The survivors gave their testimonies in all of these places where the Dignity March halted.
Kranti, Program Coordinator, of the Dignity March, told TwoCircles.net, “Through this march, I have witnessed empowerment of women in the sense that they gathered the courage to talk about the sexual violence which they always associated with shame and guilt. They have overcome that and spoke freely about their experience in front of so many people.
“But the thought process of many people is still the same. In a few places, both men and women were of the opinion that girls should be ‘extra careful when going out’, ‘ ‘learn judo or karate to defend themselves’. In colleges and in Universities, the girls told us that we should engage with the boys also so that together we can create an atmosphere where girls can come out and talk about their experiences openly.”
Some of the survivors from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh who took the Dignity March shared their experiences with TwoCircles.net.
Varsha, 25, from a village in MP shared her story of how she was kidnapped from the fields where she was working and then confined and raped, beaten and threatened with death for 6 months in an isolated place by a person named Jiten, from her own village and his accomplice. One day she managed to escape from there. Together with her parents, they filed a complaint at the Police station. But the police initially did not take any action. Instead, they threatened her that they will beat her up.
“ By agreeing to be a part of this Yatra (Dignity March), I have learnt that there are so many other little girls and women who have suffered like me and have been brave about it. At the village, I did not have the courage to even mention being raped but here I am telling everyone my story,” she said.
Varsha lives with her parents, brothers and sisters in her village. But another survivor, Yashoda from Maharashtra was thrown out of her house by her husband and in-laws when they learnt that she was gang-raped by three men 2 years back. Yashoda says she joined the March with the hope of getting justice.
Gita Devi, from Mauranipur village in UP, and her husband also joined the March to fight for justice for their daughter who was raped 5 times by the same person in their village. She said, “ When my 9-year-old daughter used to go to school, a boy named Hitesh used to tease her. But the girl did not tell us till he raped her. I took this matter to the elders of the village who, after scolding Hitesh and making him apologise, took the responsibility that it will not happen again.”
This happened in 2014 and Gita and her husband were thus dissuaded from going to the police. However, Hitesh repeated this incident again and again.
Being poor and landless, Gita and her husband were subdued but in 2017 Gita gathered courage and complained at the police station. Their village does not have a police station. The police took an oral complaint and then after some days visited their house and told they are going to take action soon against Hitesh but asked for a bribe which they could not give.
Devi added, “The police asked for Rs 7,000 for diesel for their vehicle. They must have taken money from Hitesh’s family as they are rich which is why the police took me and my daughter to the police station. And at the police station, they asked me to sign on a blank paper telling me that I have to give the complaint in writing and only then they can take action. But once I signed the papers they kept me and my daughter in the police lock-up for 10 days. They sent us home saying that if we try to complain again they will beat us up. But after we went home Hitesh and his family started harassing us.”
“We joined this yatra because we want to garner support from every justice-loving person in this country. And not just for our daughter but for all the girls who have suffered. In this March, I have heard and seen so many daughters who have all suffered.
“My daughter, now 14, often tells me she wants to die because both the Police and also Hitesh’s family keep harassing us frequently,” she added.
On Thursday, Devi received a phone call from her mother-in-law that Hitesh’s sister had filed a complaint alleging Gita’s husband of sexually harassing her. And the police had come to arrest him.
“After we return to our village, we don’t know what is in store for us. My husband and I are here, but the police were demanding his presence in our village to arrest him,” she said fearfully.
As per the 2016 National Crime Record Bureau report, of the total 15,379 victims trafficked in India 58.7% were children.
More than 5,000 survivors of sexual violence were part of this march and travelled through 200 districts across 24 states of India.
Nearly 300 NGOs all over India coordinated with Rashtriya Garima Abhiyan to make this Dignity March a successful one.
Al the participants were honoured with ‘ Dignity Award’ for their efforts to fight towards building a safe India for children and women.