We fight to bring the rapists to justice, but what are we doing for the rape survivors?

She is a celebrity hairdresser and one of the strongest voices of woman empowerment in India. You might also remember her as the funky, outspoken contestant from Bigg Boss Season 6 who took on Salman Khan.

In an incredibly powerful and poignant post on Humans of Bombay’s Facebook page, Sapna Bhavani speaks of how she was gangraped at 24 and why it has taken her 20 years to tell her story.

The post reads:

“When I was 14, I used to talk to boys; drive motor cycles, smoke cigarettes and people in Bandra would often call me a whore because of those things. I never understood the term back then, but sure if doing all those things made me a whore — I’d take it gladly. After my father’s death, I moved to Chicago where there were so many like me and it gave me the freedom to get inked, experiment with my hair and just be myself. One Christmas Eve in Chicago, I walked out of a bar alone late at night in a short dress and red lipstick. I was 24 and had been drinking, when from a dumpster a group of guys walked upto me and put a gun to my head asking me to give them blow jobs, eventually leading to gang rape. I remember walking home, showering and pushing this incident to the back of my mind for years and never letting it break my spirit – I still wear short dresses and the brightest red on my lips.

In years to come, I got married to my high school sweetheart, faced domestic violence and walked out of the marriage wondering how this could happen to ME, a feminist? It’s because sometimes there are things that are beyond your control. We live in a world where everyone stresses the importance of voicing yourself or walking out of tough situations, but I just want to say this— no one wants to be beaten up, get raped or sell their bodies. It took me 20 years to voice my incident, but for me a woman keeping it all within her because she has no other choice isn’t a sign of weakness – it’s a mark of strength and something we need to start respecting.”

The incident took place when she was 24 and is described in the post above in detail.

She was also part of a play titled ‘Nirbhaya’, which was directed by South African playwright Yael Farber.

“I was having a Skype session with Yael and I told her the story in my usual fun style. I told her I was wearing heels and ‘kill-me-red-lipstick (words changed). I even told her that at least the boys were cute. I said everything without saying ‘rape’ once. Yael was not amused. She cut to the chase. She said, ‘You don’t hear yourself. Do you understand what happened?’ The conversation took a serious graph. I thought I was being the smart one. But Yael just told me what it was. I was gang raped,” she said in an interview last year.

Beginning with the song from Pakeezah, the play recounts every detail, taking audiences through the agony the gang-rape victim went through.