Choten Prasad was in his first year of M.Sc at the Ranchi University when he volunteered to act as a mediator between two warring parties who were battling a police case with allegations of witchcraft being made on both sides. Having helped settle the case in 1997, he realised that this is the career he wanted to pursue.

He became actively involved in social causes. In 2001, he mobilised a team of social workers and took the lead in organising a 24-hour strike at the block headquarters in Bagoar, Giridih district. The social workers demanded the seasons of Baishakh and Jestha be declared as periods in which universities should as a rule hold seminars on abolition of the dowry system. Baishakh and Jestha fall between 15 April and 15 June and is the time when marriages are solemnised. They also demanded that the same order be passed at the panchayat level. The social activists also insisted on low cost toilets for poor women in urban slums and primary schools in the tribal villages of Bahulya, Dhaviya and Aakherna.

In December 2001, in Ranchi’s Albert Ekka Chowk, Choten Prasad undertook another 24-hour-long fast to reiterate his demand that Baishakh be declared as an anti-dowry month. To keep up the momentum of the movement, the next year in February, his friends and he launched a state-level advocacy and awareness campaign to declare Baishakh as an anti-dowry month. During their campaigns, Choten Prasad and his friends never asked for donations or shelter. They believed in the Gandhian principle of simplicity and would spend their nights on footpaths and railway stations.

They also went on fasts at several places in Jharkhand to highlight their concern for social issues and focus public attention on them. At most public gatherings they talked about the rising crime against women and the falling female sex ratio because of the traditional preference for sons. Says Choten Prasad, “Our Constitution extends equal rights to women but women remain vulnerable and disadvantaged. Until they stand up for their rights and refuse to marry people who demand dowries there will be no change,”

Choten Prasad also raised his voice against the school administration in his primary school at Bagodar in Giridih district. The school authorities were reluctant to appoint teachers though there was an acute shortage of teaching staff. Choten Prasad and his associates submitted a public interest litigation at the Jharkhand High Court and went on a fast. Their efforts met with success. Today, the primary school in Giridih resounds with sounds of teachers and happy voices of students. Choten Prasad hopes to continue his work of social action and fight injustice throughout his life.