Shahjahan Apa is a founder of Shakti Shalini, an organization that fights to win justice for women who have suffered domestic abuse. Her activism was prompted by the murder of her daughter, burned to death by her in-laws who escaped justice by bribing the local police.

“I resolved to use the death of my daughter as the impetus to fight for the rights of others. Noorjahan died on June 17, 1979. Three years later I began working for Shakti Shalini. In our society, the men get a free servant when they marry, but I believe that men and women are partners in marriage and stand on equal footing. Today our own government betrays us. The police betray us. Everything is in the hands of the police and it all begins and ends with money. But each day I board the bus that will bring me to our office so that I can meet with the women who have nowhere else to turn. There is a saying in Hindi: ‘Meri shakti, meri beti,’ which means, ‘My strength is my daughter.’”

Listen to Fazal Sheikh read a longer portion of Shahjahan Apa’s testimony