Lucknowites back acid attack survivors’ struggle to keep Sheroes Cafe open

Concerned citizens of Lucknow gathered at Sheroes Hangout Café on Tuesday evening to express solidarity with acid attack survivors in their fight to keep the café open after the UP Mahila Kalyan Nigam decided to shut it down. Earlier, the corporation’s monitoring committee had said that it found “no reason to run the unit”.

Acid attack survivor Anshu Rajput, who works at the café and has been spearheading the campaign to keep it open, briefed the audience. “This place may get closed within three weeks if the state government does not intervene. All our efforts to lead a life of dignity will come to an end if the café shuts down. We need your support,” she appealed to the people who had gathered there.

Another survivor, Kavita, who was attacked in 2012 resulting in damage to the entire left side of her face including an eye and a ear, said she was greatly pained at the thought of the café shutting down. “This café is our hope, as it gave us a new identity. People who came here accepted us. But the uncertainty that looms on us now is making life difficult,” she said.

The survivors also staged a ‘nukad natak’ (street play) to express their concerns and fears on the café’s possible closure.

Ashish Shukla, director of Chhanv foundation, said, “There are nearly 15 girls here who fear that they will have to relive the life they had left behind if the cafe shuts down. We must remember that this project has received the ‘Nari Shakti’ award by the President of India and has also received global appreciation for its unique way of bringing help to acid attack survivors who had been marginalised after disfigurement.”

Among those who had gathered there to extend support to the survivors was bookseller Gaurav Prakash. “We must stand by these brave girls, as they fight for their bread and butter,” he said, adding that it was heartening to see that a number of students, young people as well as the elderly had turned up at the café on the call of acid attack survivors.

Social worker Deepak Kabir also appealed to Lucknowites to come out in support of the survivors, as “they fought for their pride and dignity”.

Another visitor to the cafe said, “We are responsible for protecting the dignity of these brave women.”

On Monday, the UP Congress Committee president, Raj Babbar, visited the Sheroes Café to extend his party’s support to the survivors. He promised to launch a massive stir for them if the government did not roll back its decision.

The acid attack survivors have also launched an online campaign to prevent the cafe’s closure.

First Published: Oct 03, 2018 12:59 IST