After I Was Raped: The Untold Lives of Five Survivors by Urmi Bhattacheryya

‘Terrific … uplifting. Read it’ SOHAILA ABDULALI

What happens after rape?

As the world moves on after expressing outrage, what happens to the survivors who are left to fend for themselves in an apathetic society and a nonchalant judicial system?

In After I Was Raped, we meet five individuals: a four-year-old girl, an eightmonth-old infant, two Dalit women and a young professional. Through extensive interviews with them or their families and communities at large, Urmi Bhattacheryya reveals the stories of five survivors of sexual violence, as they recount how their lives and relationships have changed in the aftermath of assault. Shamed and ostracized, weighed down by guilt and depression, they continue to brave the most challenging realities.

At a time when only high-profile, sensationalized cases of sexual violence provoke a collective reaction and many stories go unheard, Bhattacheryya’s sensitive portrayal of the lives of these little-known survivors seeks to create empathy and awareness. The book also raises difficult but important questions about our convenient collective amnesia.