Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury (born 18 April 1964), popularly known as Nirbhaya Didi, is an Indian politician and a member of

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

from

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. She is also a social worker, women's rights activist and former journalist.

Personal life

Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury hails from South Baluchar Battla in

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. The capital of the Bengal Sultanate, Gauda and Pandua, was situated in this district. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this ...

. She is a

Post Graduate Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...

and did her

Masters of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

from

North Bengal University The University of North Bengal (also North Bengal University, abbreviated as NBU) is a public state university in the North Bengal region of West Bengal, India. Its main campus is located in Raja Rammohanpur, Siliguri, Darjeeling district, in ...

in 1987. She is married to R. K. Mitra.

Career

In 2004 she took part in the launching of the National Legal Literacy Mission. As of 2008 she served as national advisor of the National Legal Services Authority of the Ministry of Law and Justice. As of 2010 she was the president of the NGO Sudinalay. Known as ''Nirbhaya Didi'' in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, she was involved with the process of rehabilitation of rape victims and providing toilets to women. She chaired the special task force on rape, trafficking and violence against women set up by the Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...

after the 2012 Delhi gang rape. She resigned from this post in December 2013, amidst speculations that she could have run for parliament from the Malda seat as an

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a breakaway faction f ...

candidate. Chaudhury was named as the candidate of the

got 803 votes in the South Delhi Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 general election. In 2019, Lok Sabha election, she contested from Maldaha Dakshin seat with a

ticket. But lost to Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury by a small margin. In the

2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election was the 17th quinquennial List of Indian state legislative assembly elections, legislative election held in Elections in West Bengal, West Bengal, to elect List of constituencies of the West ...

, Chaudhury contested as a

candidate from

English Bazar Malda, also known as English Bazar, is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the sixth largest city (urban agglomeration) in West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Malda district as well as of the Malda division of West Bengal. ...

and won the seat by defeating her nearest rival from TMC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaudhury, Sreerupa 1960s births Living people Bengali Hindus 21st-century Bengalis Bengali activists Candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Candidates in the 2019 Indian general election Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from West Bengal People from Malda district People from English Bazar Trinamool Congress politicians from West Bengal West Bengal MLAs 2021–2026 Activists from West Bengal Indian activists Indian women activists Indian social workers Indian feminists Indian women's rights activists 20th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian women journalists 21st-century Indian journalists University of North Bengal alumni Women members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly 21st-century Indian women journalists Year of birth missing (living people)