ranjana

Ranjana Gaur,
Social Action Research Center
(2005 AWARD RECIPIENT)

" My dream is not just for my nation and my country, but for the whole world. It is that everyone should have equal rights, and humans should not exploit humans."

An angry tenant in her family's building kidnapped 13 year-old Nisha from her home in Varanasi, India . She was held in slavery for many months by her kidnapper, and forced to service several men each day. Not knowing where her daughter had been taken, Nisha's mother went in desperation to the police. When they took no action, the mother contacted Ranjana Gaur and the Social Action and Research Center for help. Ranjana used her network of contacts throughout the city, checking out where the girl had last been seen and with whom. Finally they got a report of a building where a girl who might meet the description was being held locked up in a room. When Ranjana and the mother broke the lock and found the girl, she was covered with bruises and clearly terrified. The police charged the kidnapper with abduction and kidnapping, but he has never been arrested. In retaliation, he brought a total of 18 fabricated charges of rape and abuse against Nisha's parents. Ranjana and SARC are helping Nisha's parents defend themselves, at the same time as pressuring the police to arrest and prosecute the kidnapper.

Nisha is one of over one hundred women Ranjana and SARC have helped. She immediately took Nisha into her own home for protection and counseling since there is currently no shelter home for women escaping violence and slavery in Eastern Uttar Pradesh (U.P.). She counseled Nisha through her trauma and cared for her when she experienced a horrible miscarriage - an unwanted baby Nisha conceived through repeated rape. Through Ranjana's care, Nisha is now able to talk about her experiences and be happy about life again.

It is an unfortunate fact that there are thousands of cases similar to Nisha's in India . Indian women who are kidnapped or trafficked into forced prostitution, women who are sexually abused, and women who experience domestic violence are still seen as being responsible for or deserving of the abuse. There are few laws to protect these women, and the laws that exist are rarely if ever enforced. There are few secure places for these women to heal and receive the counseling they need. Ranjana's mission is to change all of this.

Becoming a Social Activist

Ranjana began to be involved in the issue of violence against women in 1991 during her MSW studies, when at a government women's protection home in Varanasi . The level of abuse of women at the home appalled her. She was first placed with a project in Rajasthan against women's exploitation in 1994. After nine months working for the home, she realized she could not do the kind of work there that was needed. She started work with Mahila Samkahya, a government funded feminist movement 1996. She was responsible for a project on women and violence in Western U.P. She found that rape of women was prevalent, and that girl children were particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse. She started to focus more closely on child sexual abuse but found that this wasn't within the remit of Mahila Samkahya. There was a particular case of gang rape of a child that she felt compelled to pursue, to the point that the perpetrators were arrested. It was because of this case that she realized the need to create her own organization - Social Action Research Center (SARC) - to focus on sexual exploitation and abuse of women and children. Although Ranjana was just 27 years old when she started SARC in 1997, she realized she couldn't wait for any other organization to take the lead in changing a situation where sexual violence against women and children was so prevalent, yet so little talked about.

Combating Slavery and Violence Against Women in the Community

Now Ranjana and SARC are raising the fight against sexual violence to a new level in Varanasi and the state of Uttar Pradesh - both challenging and supporting other organizations to focus on the right to freedom from violence. Ranjana is reaching out to women and girls from all demographics to educate, empower, and organize for social change. SARC volunteers regularly visit ten schools in Varanasi to educate 8th-12th grade girls about domestic violence and about their human rights. They teach girls how to identify sexual violence, how to discuss this taboo subject in the open, and how to get help through SARC's 24-hour help line. Ranjana is on-call 24-hours, seven days a week to counsel girls in desperate situations, helping them to address abuse within their own homes as well as forced prostitution and domestic slavery. She conducts several five-day trainings each year for city and state police and other government departments to teach them how to identify victims of sexual abuse and trafficking and ensure that they know the legal rights of these women and charge the perpetrators accordingly.

Perhaps most important of all, Ranjana organizes women and girls in collective resistance to violence in three of Varanasi 's slums. Through these community watch groups, around 500 women come together to openly challenge men who may be traffickers, kidnappers or simply abusive to women in their households. Recently there was a man who was kidnapping girls through offering to arrange marriages for them. He had done this with 10 girls. He was arrested after he approached a member of one of SARC's girls' groups. The girl told SARC about him and Ranjana got him arrested. He was part of a group of 4 - 5 men who worked together and these others have now been identified.

Ranjana and the volunteers teach survivors of sexual violence about their rights. As a result, these women became skilled organizers, taking their message to other slum areas where they serve as community advocates and work with police and government officials to protect women. This powerful network of women who know their rights is the key to sustaining other women over the many years it can take to get compensation and justice through the Indian legal system.

Helping Each and Every Woman

In addition to her advocacy and social change work, Ranjana applies her skills as a trained social worker to oversee the case management of over 100 individual sexual assault, kidnapping, and trafficking cases. She counsels survivors, and when needed, arranges for long-term professional psychological counseling. She created an all-woman board of legal advisors

for SARC who volunteer their legal knowledge and time to SARC to ensure that women, like Nisha and her family, have legal representation and receive all the protections to which they are entitled. Without a women's shelter in Varanasi , Ranjana must either arrange for women's protection in shelters outside the city, or take the women into her own home.

Given the scope of this work, one would assume SARC is a fairly large organization. In fact, Ranjana and her colleague Aparna lead and coordinate around a dozen committed volunteers and community activists whom Ranjana has trained. Small stipends from CRY and OXFAM are used to sustain the organization and pay volunteer expenses.

An Outstanding Human and Women's Rights Activist

Challenging the social norms and bringing taboo subjects into the open for discussion and action is dangerous, especially for a young woman. Challenging the legal system and pursuing legal cases against angry and violent perpetrators is dangerous, especially when you cannot rely on police protection. But Ranjana is not afraid. Gangs of men, organized by those she is challenging, have gathered outside Ranjana's home to throw rocks and try to intimidate her. At several points, she has gone underground for security to continue her work. She will not be deterred. SARC organizes many community demonstrations to raise awareness and support the individual cases of women who are being abused in their communities.

Ranjana Gaur is one of the few incredibly talented, accomplished individuals in this world who is a presence in every room she enters, just like Perdita Huston. Poised, independent, and determined with strong convictions - she is a woman leading social change, altering society's power structure and making contributions every day that make this world a better place for women and girls. She exemplifies Perdita's vision and commitment to empowering women in the global south to be determining the path of their own futures, and the futures of their daughters. Were Ranjana honored as the 2005 Perdita Huston Human Rights Awardee, she would use the award to give shelter, strength and support to the sexual abuse survivors of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and to organize women in many more communities to take direct action to defend their human rights.

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ORGANIZATION

The Social Action Research Center is raising the fight against sexual violence to a new level in Varanasi and the state of Uttar Pradesh - both challenging and supporting other organizations to focus on the right to freedom from violence. Ranjana is reaching out to women and girls from all demographics to educate, empower, and organize for social change. SARC volunteers regularly visit ten schools in Varanasi to educate 8th-12th grade girls about domestic violence and about their human rights. They teach girls how to identify sexual violence, how to discuss this taboo subject in the open, and how to get help through SARC's 24-hour help line. Ranjana is on-call 24-hours, seven days a week to counsel girls in desperate situations, helping them to address abuse within their own homes as well as forced prostitution and domestic slavery. She conducts several five-day trainings each year for city and state police and other government departments to teach them how to identify victims of sexual abuse and trafficking and ensure that they know the legal rights of these women and charge the perpetrators accordingly.