Dr Sunitha Krishnan - the Real Hero

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Dr. Sunitha Krishnan – The Real Hero

Introduction

And thus Prajwala was born. If this beginning is abrupt then that was the intention. Nothing about Sunitha Krishnan is smooth. A simple google search about Sunitha Krishnan will lead you to a wiki page that sums up her entire effort. She is usually defined as the lady who was raped and then helped others who went through the same situation but that hardly even begins to define what Sunitha is.

Even as a child, Sunitha showed interest in helping the needy. At an age when kids play with dolls, she enjoyed taking dance classes for the mentally challenged children. Soon she was running school for slum dwellers and at the age of 15 she was gang raped by eight men. For most cases, this would be followed by the stigma and a life long battle with the trauma that is to follow. But then Sunitha was not most women. She went on to fight, not just for herself but for others as well.

She was involved in the protests against evacuation of slum dwellers and it was the case of sex workers who were being evacuated that drew her attention to the plight of these women. Prajwala (which means “Eternal flame”) was initially established as a transition school for these women.

This was 1996 and Brother Jose Vetticatil, a Catholic missionary who died in 2005, another like-minded activist was the co-founder. The journey began by converting a brothel in India’s southern city of Hyderabad into a school for the children of sex workers.

Since then, she has braved threats and physical assaults - one particular attack left her with an irreparably damaged ear - but an undaunted Krishnan has managed to rescue more than 10,000 girls. Those rescued are rehabilitated through vocational training, jobs and marriage.

Sunitha was born in Bangalore, about 570km from her current Hyderabad office. Her parents, who belong to the southern state of Kerala, supported her in her decision to pursue social studies and support social causes even as a student. Little did they know that an incident as grave as a rape would change her life forever.

In a 2013 interview, Sunitha Krishnan responded, “Half of you will not even accept a rape victim as a domestic help! How do I talk about any rehabilitation?" 

The anger is understandable, as none knows better than Sunitha Krishnan what it is to be subjected to a vicious rape in India, where victims face stigma, isolation and social ostracism, apart from the trauma.

Krishnan has had to deal with all that and more. Though violated, she refused to be broken and she gave birth to an institution that assists trafficked women and girls in finding shelter.

Talking about her own incident that took place about 26 years ago, Krishnan once famously said "I do not remember the rape part of it as much as I remember the anger part of it.....I derive power from that anger."

The Situation

In the wake of globalization and the resultant marginalization and alienation of large sections of humanity, sex trafficking of women and girls has become a matter of urgent concern in today's world. The National Crime Records Bureau, Government of India report of CRIME IN INDIA 2011, enumerates that crimes against women in India are very high in general and more so among Scheduled Castes, Schedule tribes, Minority women with increased crimes against girls in particular. The State of Andhra Pradesh stood first with a crime rate of 14.67% against women among Indian states followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh with 9.59% and 9.54% respectively. In India, over 200,000 women and children are inducted into the flesh trade every year (PRAJWALA's Annual Survey Report, 2012-13), and the Andhra Pradesh state is one of the largest suppliers of women and children for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. The reasons behind this flesh trade are poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, family financial problems, rape, kidnapping and abduction, love and marriage, superstitions, craze to enter the entertainment industry such as TV serials, media and cinema. The sources of trafficking come from auto drivers, pimps and middlemen who trap girls and women. Economic hardships coupled with the prevailing status of women in society, and changing public attitudes towards sex and morality creates a context which encourages this modern form of slavery. An incredibly disturbing fact is that the age of the women/girls entering prostitution has seen a progressive decline in the last decade. One of every four victims rescued from prostitution is a child, and 60% of these children are HIV positive (PRAJWALA Annual Report 2012-13). Sex trafficking not only results in severe violation of human rights but also causes adverse physical, psychological and moral consequences for the victims. All hopes and dreams of a better life are shattered and over time the girls become penniless, mentally broken and affected with serious/life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS. The journey of sex trafficking destroys the body, mind and soul of a victim, and fundamentally takes away her capacity to trust herself or anyone around her. The damage done is deep rooted and often irreversible, as the sense of rejection, betrayal and numbness that a trafficked women or girl goes through makes her lose faith in humanity. Skewed identity, poor self-worth and learnt helplessness also make her believe that there is no hope for her in the outside world and her destiny is to sell her body.