Seema Sakhare (born ) is an Indian feminist who campaigns to stop violence against women.

Career

Seema Sakhare (born ) is from Nagpur in the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. After a young

Adivasi The Adivasi (also transliterated as Adibasi) are heterogeneous tribal groups across the Indian subcontinent. The term is a recent invention from the 20th century and is now widely used as a self-designation by groups classified as Scheduled Tr ...

woman from

Desaiganj Desaiganj also known as Navi Wadsa (lit. New Wadsa) is a Large Village and a municipal council in the Wadsa taluka in Gadchiroli district in the state of Maharashtra, India. The village of Wadsa, now called Juni Wadsa (lit. Old Wadsa) lies 2&nb ...

was raped in 1972 and the ensuing court case became a national issue, Sakhare visited her and later founded an organization which campaigned to stop violence against women. She became well-known in India for supporting women and offering legal support. In 2016, she told ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' that she had helped around 200 survivors of rape. When

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...

leader Asha Mirje made remarks suggesting that women were partly to blame for being raped, Sakhare condemned the comments and called for her resignation. In recognition of her work, she was awarded the 2013 Stree Shakti Puraskar (now re-named

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

References

{{Nari Shakti Puraskar Nari Shakti Puraskar winners 1930s births Indian feminists People from Nagpur