1 in 3 women in India suffer sexual and physical violence at home. What should be their safe haven, is the realm of terror, one they can’t speak up against for the fear of shame. The silence around the subject has been deafening. 

In 2008, we realised that the conversation around domestic violence involves not only the victim and the perpetrator but also the silent spectators who do not intervene in time. We advocated for bystander intervention, asking everyone to come forward, and interrupt instances of overheard violence with an act as little as “ringing the bell!” 

So far, we at Breakthrough have trained as many as 100,000 people on gender, sexuality and human rights issues and over a million men have signed the pledge against domestic violence. All over the country, young people are joining the cause, starting a dialogue and keeping this movement alive. 

“Many survivors of abuse struggle to recognise it for what it is: violence. And this struggle is often in silence.