Sunitha Krishnan- Social Activist par Excellence

[krish44]

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Yesterday Sunitha Krishnan appeared on KBC show of Amitabh Bachan.

An amazing life story-victim of rape at the age of 15 by multiple men became a social activist to rescue children and women

from human trafficking.

She has been attacked 17 times during rescue acts.

She has an NGO Prajwala which rescues,rehabilitates and reintegrates sex trafficked victims back into society.

She has been honoured with awards including Padmashri for her work.

She is married to Rajesh Touchriver a film maker Whom she knew casually before marriage and when he got into a

vehicle accident immediately returned to hyderabad from bangalore where she had gone and went to hospital and signed

as his wife to get him operated and later married him.

An unusual person with an interesting life story. she is 47 yrs young.

Some indian women can be great achievers.

 

[prasad1]

Krishnan was born in Bangalore, to Palakkad Malayali parents Raju Krishnan and Nalini Krishnan. She saw most of the country early on while traveling from one place to another with her father, who worked with the Department of Survey which makes maps for the entire country.

Krishnan's passion for social work became manifested when, at the age of eight years, she started teaching dance to mentally challenged children. By the age of twelve, she was running schools in slums for underprivileged children. At the age of fifteen, while working on a neo-literacy campaign for the Dalit community, Krishnan was gang-raped by eight men. They did not like that a woman was interfering with what they claimed as “man’s society.” They beat her so badly that she is partially deaf in one ear. This incident served as the impetus for what she does today.

Krishnan studied in Central Government Schools in Bangalore and Bhutan. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in environmental sciences from St. Joseph's College in Bangalore, Krishnan completed her MSW (medical & psychiatric) from Roshni Nilaya, Mangalore.

In 1996, sex workers living in Mehboob ki Mehandi, a red light area in Hyderabad, were evacuated. As a result, thousands of women, who were caught in the clutches of prostitution, were left homeless.

Krishnan started a transition school at the vacated brothel to prevent the second generation from being trafficked. In its early years, Krishnan had to sell her jewelry and even most of her household utensils to make ends meet at Prajwala.

Today, Prajwala stands upon five pillars: prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, reintegration and advocacy. The organization extends moral, financial, legal and social support to victims and ensures that perpetrators are brought to justice. To date, Prajwala has rescued, rehabilitated, or served over 12,000 survivors of sex trafficking, and the scale of their operations makes them the largest anti-trafficking shelter in the world.

The warehouse of energy and optimism that she is, Ms. Krishnan's enthusiasm easily rubs off on those around her as well. As a former co-worker, says, "Working with Sunitha is like a constant learning experience, with her constantly throwing challenges, urging staff to tap their potential. She not only monitors but also mentors her staff in all spheres of work and life. Her undying hope, passion, relentless struggle to reach goals set for herself and for Prajwala (actually synonymous) inspires the team to stay focused on the cause too."

Sunitha Krishnan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thank you krish44 for bringing her to this forum.
Thanks to Amitabji for honoring her.