Bhanu’s Fearless Fight for Justice

‘Panna ki Sherni’ (Tigress of Panna), Bhanu, is a fearless and devoted social worker. Bhanu’s journey exemplifies that one can achieve anything by overcoming fear inflicted upon them. .

Hailing from Partappur, a small village in the Panna district, Madhya Pradesh, Bhanu belongs to a Dalit family with eight sisters and two brothers. Being brought up in a marginalized community, she faced numerous challenges, especially as her community discouraged girls from studying or working. However, Bhanu has defied these norms and has completed her education. She holds a masters in Social work.

Bhanu’s work too has not been free of stigma due to her caste identity. Earlier at work, she recalls, people would disregard her because of her caste. But Bhanu was dedicated to finding a way around it. She adopted a different last name professionally and would only reveal her identity once she had built trust with the community.  This helped her build deep connections in the community with children, women and the youth providing them a safe space to share their struggles.

For Bhanu, social change is the ultimate goal and her persistence to achieve it is unmatched. With the ‘never give up’ mindset, Bhanu has relentlessly pursued justice from the development of roads, fight against sexual harassment,  education of children and youth, fighting for the rights of Dalits and Adivasis and women’s health. 

One of her first battles was of her own sexual harassment. Filing an FIR she faced immense backlash and threats from the perpetrator. Despite the intimidation she persisted. Bhanu shares “I knew if I did not stand up for myself, I’d be letting down every woman who looks to me for courage.” After four long years, the perpetrator was finally given 10 years of imprisonment.  "It was one of the hardest battles, but I knew I could not let fear silence me,” shares Bhanu. She, along with Swadhikar, has helped many women and girls like herself to break free from sexual harassment and violence against women. This includes advocacy in 65 cases of sexual harassment, violence against women, SC/ST Act, and POCSO in the Bundelkhand region, and raising her voice against these issues. Among these, she provided continuous support and advocacy to 5 victims, which led to the conviction of the perpetrators and ensured justice for the victims. They were granted the right to live a dignified life, and she also helped them secure relief funds to rebuild their lives.

Bhanu’s understanding of constitutional rights duties has further enhanced her work. She attended the Samvidhan se Samadhan training with WTPA as a PHIA fellow, in 2019. The training improved her confidence and advocacy skills.  With better knowledge she began writing more comprehensive and effective petitions citing relevant articles, compelling authorities to take her work seriously. She has also been able to better relate the struggles of the communities she works with back to the Constitution fostering a better understanding of their needs and ensuring her work aligns with their freedom of choice.

A significant achievement in her career was resolving the road issue in Shirsho Bhan, a village in Panna district, in which Bhanu works. The village had only one kaccha road that would connect it to neighboring villages. This road flooded during monsoons disrupting students’ access to schools in these months. Bhanu mobilized the community to write a petition to the local authorities. The petition was comprehensive, including the relevant articles that she now had a better knowledge of. She persistently followed up on it. Her efforts were successful as now the village has a road. This has given 40-50 students uninterrupted access to schools through the year.

Over the years, Bhanu has impacted over 5000 and remains connected with 400-500 people who still seek her guidance. Despite her experience, she is a learner always striving to learn more to do better for the community.  With her courage, humility and persistence she continues her fight for justice.

The above story has been written and published with the explicit consent of the individual involved. All facts presented are based on WTPA's direct interaction with the individual, ensuring accuracy and integrity in our reporting.