Help a domestic violence survivor get back on her feet! | Milaap
Help a domestic violence survivor get back on her feet!
  • Srishti

    Created by

    Srishti Bansal
  • VN

    This fundraiser will benefit

    Vijaya Nair

    from Mumbai, Maharashtra

When I woke up one morning and unlocked my phone to the usual notifications, I saw a message that made me freeze mid scroll. A woman who feeds 180 stray dogs in Virar had posted a desperate plea for help on a WhatsApp group for animal lovers, and had attached more than 5 pictures of very disturbing face wounds. Most women would be able to tell with one look what was going on, and I instantly messaged her and asked her who did that to her. As expected, it turned out to be her husband. I saw the message 1.5 hours after she posted it because I wake up late, but it turns out not a single other person had messaged her from the group - even though there were almost 200 people on it. I was already (and still am) struggling mentally and emotionally in my life at that point, and had been having a terribly rough time, but because I know more than anyone what it's like to feel abandoned, I knew I had to help her.

Fortunately, with the help of a couple of reliable acquaintances and after weeks of back and forth for the survivor, Vijaya, the police filed an FIR. After the expected delays in arresting the perpetrator, the man was apprehended but he is now out on bail. He borrowed bail money from the lawyer he hired (through an old contact of Vijaya) and then ran away without paying the lawyer for his service or repaying his bail money. He is now absconding. The case is now in the hands of the officials of law, and we do not know how long it will go on and how much more she will have to suffer before she hopefully gets justice.

For the entire duration of her marriage, Vijaya was the breadwinner of the family (which only consists of the couple and Vijaya's 2 dogs. But she lost her job in March due to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. She now has a lot of financial strain on her head, including due to a loan that her husband took in her name for his business (which invariably failed due to his alcoholism.

Vijaya has no family as her own parents are no more, nor any good friends to speak of. I constantly find myself in awe of her courage for going through this and doing it alone. To make matters worse, a lump on her stomach has been diagnosed as a hernia that needs an operation, the approximate cost of which is INR 40,000. I want to do my absolute best to help Vijaya in whatever capacity I can, so I have decided to try and raise funds for the surgery on her hernia and hopefully also to cover as many of her pending bills as possible. I would like to do my best to reduce the amount of stress I can feel her experiencing in an already difficult time. While the justice system takes its course, we must do our best to keep Vijaya safe, healthy, and happy, which she has not felt in many years. We cannot lose a beautiful life at the hands of a bad man yet again.

Please open your heart and donate generously for this woman who has suffered through so much yet never wavered on what she is passionate about. I will be uploading screenshots of her pending bills for her EMI (which the husband took in her name and failed to pay back), house rent, electricity bills, and medical bills, especially for her hernia which is the most urgent problem at the moment.

(I'm Srishti, I'm an animal rescuer and I do my best to help people in need too.)

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