Shanta is a 32-year-old young woman from Andhra Pradesh. She has a partial hearing disability since her birth. Due to this she was never sent to school and was married off at a very young age to a man much older than her. She lives in Shiddlaghatta Taluk, Chikkaballapur with her husband and two daughters.
Shanta faced abuse from her husband regularly. He comes home drunk and physically abuses her, he physically abuses her if she talks loudly, he physically abuses her because she doesn’t know how to talk in Kannada and the list continues. Shanta is not allowed to step out of her house without her husband’s permission even to get milk or groceries for the family.
Shanta got out of her house for the first time in years to attend a workshop organised by KVS. She was shocked to learn that a husband cannot abuse or beat his wife as it is illegal and he can be charged with domestic violence. She said, “I didn’t know this. All my life I’ve lived like this.” She also said that she had learned a lot at the workshop and she wants to know more but cannot access information as she speaks another language. But she hopes to collect more information through workshops and eventually lead an independent life without him. She is now learning Kannada from her children as she thinks that the abuse would decrease if she does.