Sunitha Krishnan: From A Survivor To Saviour

A person who selflessly gives up their life for the benefit of others. From teaching dance to mentally challenged kids when she was 8 to running schools at the age of 12 for underprivileged students, Sunitha Krishnan was no less than an angel on earth for many.

Sunitha Krishnan on the way of making a history; Image Source: The Xtraordinary.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that few people are born with a heart made of gold and are chosen by the gods, as she was. A girl, from an early age, was empathetic to her surroundings, who was strongly determined to bring a change to society. Society is responsible for the horrible nightmares of many, yet she stood on her ground and didn't back off.

The girl is Sunitha Krishnan, born in 1972. Ever since she was a kid, she had this tendency to become someone who was worth helping the people around her. At an age when children are asking for chocolates from their parents, this girl was on some other path, a path to make the lives of unfavourable people worth living. The life-changing moment came when she was 15 years old and volunteered to work for the neo-literacy campaign for the Dalit community. But what did she get in return? Being gang-raped by eight men and brutally beaten.

Even thinking about what happened with Sunitha Krishnan might give people chills down their spine. But she was not only a survivor but a warrior as well. She endured everything with pride because it was not her fault. Surely it was a nightmare for any girl, but Sunitha was just not any girl. This incident, instead of breaking her, made her more strong-willed.

She proudly stated that it was not her fault and she should not be blamed for such a heinous crime. She broke societal stereotypes by not being the poor victim.

A 16-year-old was walking through the streets of the red-light areas in Hyderabad and asking the sex workers, "What can I do for you?" It might sound absurd to many, but that's what Sunita Krishnan did. From getting slapped to getting spit on, she endured everything but stood on her ground.

She was determined to rescue all the sex workers to stop the next generation of the flesh trade and worked tirelessly towards her aim.

She sold her gold earrings and reached out to huge platforms to build a shelter home for the sex workers. She passed each and every obstacle on her way to giving normal life to these people.

She provided a healthy and safe environment in her Asha Niketan care center. She launched Prajwala, a one-of-a-kind organization where women and girls are educated, well-fed, and given education. Prajwala runs 17 schools in Hyderabad for 500 children who are the children of sex workers, and many are rescued.

Prajwala also works as a rehabilitation center where women facing trauma get counseling and talk about careers as well. She not only gave them a second chance at life but also empowered them to live dignified and self-sufficient life.

When a person directly works in the front line, it is natural that they will face threats. Sunitha was no exception. She was assaulted 17 times, resulting in multiple injuries and being attacked by acid.

She says, "Society makes you feel cheap. I chose not to feel like a victim. I am not a victim. I am a survivor. I speak about it with a lot of pride, because I am proud of what I have become today. I have not done a mistake. I don’t want my face to be blurred. I am not to be ashamed for. The guys that have done it should be hiding their faces and they should be blurring their faces."

She started the "shame the rapist" movement, which spread like a fire over the nation. It was a movement where videos of assaults were posted on social networking sites, highlighting the faces of the assaulters and blurring the faces of the victims to protect the victim’s privacy. This led to many arrests all over India.

She wanted to bring about change, and she succeeded. She worked with government officials and several NGOs to rescue victims of human trafficking. Keeping track of the survivors is also hard, but though they are not 100 percent successful, they didn't fail either.

Apart from rescuing the sex workers, one of the biggest challenges was AIDs. She lost many sex workers and children to AIDs.

She has worked in a field that no one even wants to talk about. Society should thank her for bringing about such a positive change. There is surely a future when human trafficking will be prevented by the efforts of such unnamed heroes, and they will make history by changing societal norms.