Last year we wrote about Priya’s Shakti, a comic used to create awareness on gender base violence and to assist in changing attitudes within Indian society and the world. In its first issue, we are introduced to our heroine Priya, who herself had survived a brutal rape. In this next issue, the writers continue to focus on gender based violence but specifically on the issue of acid attacks.
In this next chapter, Priya’s Mirror, Priya with her trusted tiger work together with acid attack victims, who have been trapped in a castle, to fight against the villain Ankhar. Priya’s unique weapon is the “Mirror of Love” which
shows the acid victims who they are, beyond the scars. In addition, within the story, there is a focus on the villain, displaying how patriarchal system not only has an adverse impact on women but men as well. Paromita Vohra, co-writer of the comic, told the BBC:
“When a woman spurns a man, his ego is hurt and when that ego is put through the acid of patriarchal thinking, it corrodes society. So he’s a villain, but he’s a victim too. And we have to start looking at villains and victims differently if we want to be able to change the patriarchal mindsets.”[1]
Within the comic you will also find, the stories survivors of acid attacks including Monic Singh of New York City and two others from Bogota, Colombia and Delhi, India. There will also be use of the technology that provides additional discoveries for readers with an app, which was also seen in the first issue, Priya’s Shakti, in its digital platform.
Acid attacks is a worldwide problem and is no restricted to one group of people or in one geographical location. The attacks occur in countries in South East Asia, Middle East, West Indies and Sub-Sahran Africa along with other regions.[2] Unfortunately due to the underreporting of acid attacks there is no true number of attacks globally, though individual countries have begun to document these attacks. One of these countries being India, where it was not until 2013 when acid attacks were separated from other offenses by the government, this enable for better documentation of the attacks. With this change in law, 225 cases were reported in 2014 and in 2015, 249 cases were reported in India.[3] With greater awareness and attention on the use of acid in attacks specifically against women, Ram Devineni, co-creator Of Priya’s Shakti, decided that the next chapter would focus on this world-wide issue. Devineni explains his decision on the focus to the BBC:
[1] Geeta Pandey, “India’s raped comic ‘super hero’ returns to fight acid attacks,” BBC News, September 26, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37287071.
[2] “Acid Violence – Where We Work,” Acid Survivors Trust International, http://www.acidviolence.org/index.php/acid-violence/where-we-work.
[3] “Statistics,” Acid Survivors Foundation in India, http://www.asfi.in/webpage.php?title=Statistics+&p_type=1&parent=76&catid=78.
“The reason I chose this subject is because there’s a clear co-relation between rape and acid attacks. The patriarchy, the social stigma and the attitude towards victims are the same in both. In fact, I think the lack of empathy for acid attack survivors is ten times more because their scars are visible.” [4]
To read Priya’s Mirror click the link below:
http://www.priyashakti.com/priyas_mirror/
To read further on the comic:
http://mahendrasinghfoundation.org/2016/09/priyas-shakti-priyas-mirror/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-37287071
[4] Pandey, “India’s raped comic ‘super hero’ returns to fight acid attacks.”