It was 2006. Barely 12 days after her wedding, 23-year-old Pragya Singh was travelling in a train from her hometown, Varanasi, to Delhi, to pursue a career in apparel management.
At 2 AM, while she was sound asleep, a man, whose marriage proposal she had turned down, threw acid on her face.
Thirteen years later, Pragya, a social worker and mother of two beautiful daughters, has become a guardian angel for hundreds of acid attack survivors across India.
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Through her NGO, Atijeevan Foundation, she arranges free surgeries and non-surgical treatments for acid attack and burn victims. In the past six years, Pragya has funded crucial surgeries for over 250 acid attack survivors and has counselled many more to have a fresh start at life. Her NGO is supported mostly by donations from individual well-wishers as well as corporates.
Most of Atijeevan’s beneficiaries are survivors hailing from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR and West Bengal. From skin grafting to hair transplant and even critical reconstructive surgeries—Pragya tries to finance all crucial surgeries and medical cost for any survivor.
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Pragya also conducts skill development workshops for survivors in their 30s or 40s, who have been dealing with depression and trauma for decades.
“Most of them had to endure the horrifying experience at the prime of their youth or even adolescence, so they retreated within the confines of their homes. Besides, their health does not permit them to opt for 9-5 office jobs. So, we provide them training on vocations that can be practised from home at their discretion. ” shares Pragya.
At the Atijeevan workshops, they learn to make decorative items, home furnishings, stitching clothes, knitting and similar crafts. “Some of them have even started their tailoring or handicrafts venture. We have also set up grocery kiosks for some survivors,” adds Pragya.
While women constitute the largest number of acid attack victims in India, men and children also bear the brunt of this appalling menace. As a matter of fact, around 20% of Atijeevan’s beneficiaries include men and children.
“I want to prove that an acid attack is not a death sentence. A person’s identity goes beyond their faces or physical appearances. This is why we chose the slogan, ‘I am not my face,’” says Pragya.
Recalling that fateful night, Pragya says that she owes her life to her co-passenger who was a doctor.
When the police eventually arrested her attacker, they found out that he had stalked her for days since her wedding, stealthily waiting for a chance to commit the heinous crime.
In the years following the attack, Pragya would undergo fifteen surgeries. The incident had claimed the sight in one of her eyes while her other eye could be narrowly saved due to timely medical intervention.
Even after spending frantic hours in hospitals in Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi, Pragya still had an inherently optimistic attitude towards life, which amazed her doctors. They began requesting her to motivate other victims, who were often on the verge of giving up on life.
“He told me that I was fortunate to be able to afford the series of expensive surgeries and treatment, while most survivors come from less privileged families. I felt that I have to be there for them,” Pragya shares.
With wholehearted support from her husband and her friends, Pragya raised Rs 30,000 for Rachna—her first beneficiary. In 2013, she officially launched the Atijeevan Foundation which has helped hundreds ever since. “I have to also thank surgeons and physicians throughout the country, who treat survivors at subsidised rates,” she says.
