NEVER SURRENDER IS HER MOTTO

Mamta’s husband threw acid on her while she was sleeping. “My own husband did this to me... what could be worse?,” she says. The man wanted a vehicle as dowry and when he didn’t get one, he decided to ruin Mamta’s life within seconds by dousing her with acid while she was sleeping. “He would sexually assault me at night, beat me for hours, deny me food and sleep and torture me,” she recalls. Her husband also took away her son, and she craves to see him once. Despite living such hell, Mamta didn’t break down. She works with the NGO, Make Love Not Scars and she has devoted her life to the cause of acid attack survivors. “There’s so much pain... physical and emotional. It’s very tough to start life from scratch. I sit with survivors and make them realise that life is not over. When you don’t surrender, we feel very proud of yourself, and that gives you the power to carry on,” she says.