On the fateful night of November 9, 2015, Delhi repeated its ugly history all over again when a four-year old girl was brutally raped and assaulted by a man close to her family. She has now been christened
‘Choti Nirbhaya’. The Quint, a leading digital content platform, started
a BitGiving campaign to collect funds to support the child’s medical
treatment and ensure that she gets a robust educational grounding for a
stable future. The Quint received a heart-warming response to its
initiative and raised Rs 5.28 lakhs from 256 contributions in India,
with an average ticket size of Rs 2,000. The raised funds will be
allocated towards the girl’s recovery and to support her family in this
time of need.
The BitGiving campaign ran from Oct 17
to Nov 16. Its goal was to raise Rs. 5 lakhs which has been surpassed
thanks to the benevolence of the people who contributed towards the
noble cause of enabling Choti Nirbhaya and her family to overcome this
tragic event.
Choti Nirbhaya’s story struck a chord
with renowned personalities from across various fields. Singer Anupam
Roy, actor Raveena Tandon, director Mahesh Bhatt, musician Raghu Ram,
and TV anchor Richa Anirudh appealed to the readers of The Quint to come
out and donate generously so that the victim could aspire for a
financially secure future as an adult. Their pleas, along with those of
the girl’s family, have elicited a positive response from the people of
India as they made significant contributions on the crowd-funding
platform, BitGiving.
The Delhi government also acknowledged
The Quint’s reportage of the incident and applauded its efforts to
raise funds for the girl’s education and recovery. “The Delhi government
is working to cut short the procedure, so that the victim and her
family can get the help at the earliest. We are thankful to The Quint
for bringing this issue to our knowledge. We compliment the organisation
for pursuing the case diligently,” said Nagendra Sharma, spokesperson
of the Delhi Government.
Speaking on the funds raised, Ritu
Kapur, Co-Founder and CEO, The Quint, said, “The ‘Choti Nirbhaya’ case
has turned the spotlight yet again on the deplorable state of women’s
safety in India’s capital. The four-year-old girl has undergone a series
of surgeries at New Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital but her parents have
been told that she will not be able to bear a child as an adult. The
parents are anxious that she should emerge out of this incident as a
self-sufficient adult and to ensure this it is imperative that the child
is educated well. Our fund-raising efforts were primarily targetted to
this end and we are pleased at the generous contributions that have been
made to help Choti Nirbhaya have a better and brighter future.”
The four-year-old survivor of the
shocking incident was lured to a desolate spot by the perpetrator, not
far from her home, with the promise of ‘sweets’. The brutal assault that
followed caused her serious injuries and indelible mental trauma. She
comes from an extremely poor family living in the slum area of New
Delhi’s Keshav Puram. Her father is a daily wage laborer, working as a
painter. Her mother works as a domestic help. Their income supports the
girl’s grand-parents, two physically disabled uncles and her two
siblings. The funds raised via the campaign will play a pivotal part in
helping the family overcome this tragedy and will ensure a secure future
for Choti Nirbhaya.
Source: IndianMediaBook - Press Briefing
