News by PTI:
Noted social activist Sunitha Krishnan, a Padma Shri recipient this year, on February 5th said she has faced 17 attacks in her life, faced all kinds of traumatic incidents and seen a colleague murdered in front of her.
Sunitha Krishnan is co-founder of Prajwala, an NGO that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-traffic survivors into the mainstream of society and is an alumni of School of Social Work Roshni Nilaya, Mangalore.
She said in the last 20 years, Prajwala had rescued over 15,600 girls from prostitution and she has faced 17 attacks on her life.
“All kinds of traumatic incidents had happened, including the murder of my colleague in front of me,” she said, adding she considered the Padma Shri as an acknowledgement of the cause she was fighting for.
“I am what I am because of Roshni Nilaya and I salute Roshni Nilaya for making me what I am,” she said at a function at its campus to felicitate her on receiving the award. The school principal Sophia Fernandes was also present at the ceremony and Roshni Nilaya Director Philomena D’Souza and Dean Rameela Shekar also in-turn shared their experiences with Krishnan.
Krishnan went on to say that Roshni Nilaya had defined and moulded her.
“For many people, it would be traumatic to hear that I was gang-raped at the age of 15. When I landed in this campus, my teachers did not know that. They came to know about it after I left the campus,” she said.
She said it was in the Roshni Nilaya campus here that her strategic understanding and vision on social change evolved.
“The campus gave me unconditional love and acceptance. I was ready to start my mission once I left the campus,” she said.
Krishnan said the honour has come to her at a time when her organisation had taken the government to court several times.
“I have really troubled the government in the past and am continuing to do it. In this context, acknowledging that I am doing the right work gives me strength,” she said.
And ever more power to you!
Read more about Sunitha Krishnan and four other women entrepreneurs who’re fighting marginalisation and discrimination: 5 Women Entrepreneurs Talk About Their Work That’s Empowering Hundreds Of Women