Founder of Burn Survivor Mission Saviour Trust, an NGO, Neehari Mandali, of Avanigadda in Krishna district, on Saturday exhorted girl students to boldly overcome problems without entertaining thoughts of committing suicide.
“Whenever thoughts of suicide come in the mind, think of the labour pains the mothers went through to give birth to us, which was much more painful than our problems,” she told students in a seminar on save the girl child and crime against women in the Vyas auditorium in Kurnool.
Recalling that she attempted immolation owing to disputes in her marital life a few years ago, she said she had not filed police complaint but was divorced and the burn marks had changed her physical appearance and left her shattered. Though she was a graduate and was pursuing MBA, she said she was not considered for employment due to her disfigured appearance, which was a taboo in society.
Burn victims must not be confined to the four walls but should be encouraged by parents, family and friends to lead normal lives, Ms. Neehari said. Thanking Pavan Raj of Kurnool who shot a short film titled “Rakhi” on her, she said she had started an NGO and taken up a project to save such victims by offering free medication, treatment and plastic surgery with the help of the Hyderabad-based plastic surgeon Harikiran Chekuri.
Ms. Neehari advised girl students to be bold and find ways to help themselves. Girls should support girls to check ragging. Ragging in colleges should be in a friendly manner to get acquainted with freshers but should not cause anguish or drive one to commit suicide.
Superintendent of Police A. Ravikrishna said policemen should love society and serve them.
Referring to some cases of domestic violence and foeticide, the SP told women to complain to him or the DSPs and call 100 on foeticide, dowry harassment, domestic violence and ragging etc. Policemen were instructed to respect women who approach police stations. The DSPs were undertaking family counselling sessions on every Sunday, Mr. Ravikrishna said.
A Hindi lecturer Venkatasubbamma said the practice in most families of giving special treatment to boys though they loitered should go and boys and girls in a family must be treated alike. Despite repeatedly failing, boys would be educated, but girls dissuaded to study beyond a point, she said.
Vijayalakshmi, a student, suggested that every girl should elicit a promise from their brothers while tying rakhi that they would treat other girls as sisters. Girl students should carry pepper spray and use it when they faced eve teasing, a student Razia Sultana said.
The courage one musters to commit suicide should be used to resolve the problems, K. Chamundeswari said. Parents of rural areas were discontinuing studies of their daughters in rural areas and getting them married, feeling jittery on a spate of atrocities and suicides of students, she added. A lecturer Vinolia urged the SP to conduct more such awareness programmes.
Kadapa DSP B.V. Ramana Murthy, SB DSP Babu Prasad, circle inspector D. Prabhakar, lecturers and students took part.
