Slum girls being trained as self defence master trainers
Jyoti Prajapati, 19, of Lalaipur village in Chinhat was fed up of lewd remarks and safety issues in her area. Safety of women was a big concern in the village and this is what restricted movement of all girls.
But she has decided to find a solution. Jyoti is undergoing master self-defence training. And she would soon begin training other girls of her village.
Jyoti isn’t the only one. Hundred girls from various slums and villages across UP would soon be master trainers in self defence.
The project has been initiated by Red Brigade -- an allgirls’ group of survivors of molestation and sexual abuse.
The girls of Red Brigade have undergone various trainings on self- defence by trainers from England, America, Australia and India.
Usha Vishwakarma, founder and leader of the group, said: “We have decided to train 100 master trainers in self-defence and then begin our massive selfdefence training across the state. We plan to cover 100 schools in 100 days and train children in self-defence. We also hold training in 50 slums of UP.”
Training of master trainers has already started in batches and the first two rounds of training have been done.
Among those who are part of the training include girls from parts of Lucknow, villages of Gorakhpur, Basti etc, told Usha.
The girls are made to stay during the three-day training. Sessions begin at 6am and continue till 5pm.
“It isn’t only martial arts that we train them in. We also discuss a lot of issues related to women safety and have sessions on related subjects,” said Usha.
Usha along with her team have learnt tricks of self-defence from experts of various countries.
Girls of Red Brigade have also learnt self-defence from Karmaga team from Israel that trained actor Rani Mukherji for film ‘Mardani’, said Usha.
“We have already had sessions with them. But they would be here again in July to train us,” she added.