Eighteen-year-old Mumtaz was born in Chilkana village in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. She is the fourth among the six children in the family. Her father runs a small foundry in the village. After Mumtaz completed her school, she joined the Girls Degree College in Saharanpur town, 15 kms from her village. Mumtaz would go to college with two of her friends Meena and Swati.

Two months of commuting by bus went by uneventfully. Then a group of unruly boys began to harass Meena on a daily basis. Mumtaz urged Meena to complain to her parents. But her friend desisted as she feared her parents might stop her from attending college. The boys one day even threatened to throw acid on her if she dared defy them. That day Mumtaz made a call to Meena’s father and narrated the whole incident. Meena’s father filed an FIR at the police station and the main culprit was picked up. After the unfortunate incident, Meena’s father sent her to study in a college in Dehra Dun.

With Meena out of the way, Mumtaz become the target of the boy’s ire. Then the boys together began harassing her. As the main culprit was a family friend’s son, Mumtaz’s parents tried to speak to him. But he only grew more belligerent and so did the other boys. They threatened to disfigure Mumtaz with acid in the bus. Mumtaz refused to take these threats quietly. She raised an alarm and her parents lodged an FIR against the family friend’s son. He was arrested. Mumtaz continued going to college.

Says Mumtaz, "If I would have given in to fear, he would have continued to harm me. I will henceforth stand up for girls who face such threats and speak up against all harassment."