Renu Sharma and a group of woman lawyers at the Women’s Foundation are preparing their case to find justice for Durga Rajbansi.

Fifteen years ago, when they were still schoolgirls, Renu and her friends started sheltering survivors of violence and providing legal assistance to them. Women survivors were given education and training skills to help them get a new start on life.“The major challenge is that our legal system lacks strong laws against violence on girls and women,” says Renu. The perpetrators are released, and they just go back to their old ways of beating up women. She knows that many of those she puts behind bars are likely to come after her for revenge.

A sex trafficking gang once surrounded her and a friend in Indra Chowk and demanded that she withdraw her case against them. She left one of her companions with them, and ran to Hanuman Dhoka police station. Renu turned the tables on the men and had them arrested.

Renu and her family know they put themselves at risk, but they have taken precautions. “We have all been trained in martial arts and have to be alert all the time,” she says. Her shelter had to be moved to five different places after the activists were attacked by men accused of beating and exploiting their wives, daughters, or employees. The Women’s Foundation now has branches in 12 districts.

(Contact: 4423257 Email: tara@tara.wlink.com )

Source: NepaliTimes.com