When she was old enough to understand things, Punam Toppo’s mother told her a tale that was to leave a mark on her life forever. Her mother told her of how the family had taunted and cursed her for giving birth to a third daughter. She spoke with pain of how on a warm summer night, while the family slept, she had stolen away to the fields determined to kill both her child and herself. But all she had done was cry till she had no tears left and return home dry-eyed and with a name for her newborn child. Her mother called her Punam in the hope that she would be able to dispel the gloom her birth had cast on the family. In the remote village Bhusur in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, Punam was just one more unwanted girl child who had luckily survived.

But Punam’s travails in life had just about begun. Punam was barely eight when her father died leaving behind a destitute wife with three girls and two boys. To make ends meet, her mother began working as a labourer. Punam, too, began working round-the-clock as a domestic help for a pittance. Her mother died soon after leaving the children on their own. A reluctant relative took them in but refused to support them after some months. Punam slaved in fields, selling grass and firewood and continued to go to school.

Just when the family managed to ensure a decent life for themselves, the village ojha declared Punam’s grandmother to be a witch who devoured the lives of the villagers. Soon after this pronouncement, a man in the village died. The villagers stormed into Punam’s home and beat up the whole family. The village panchayat immediately reiterated Punam’s grandmother to be a witch and declared the family to be social outcastes. They were barred from entering people’s homes and the marketplace. If anyone as much as set sight on them on the streets, they were brutally beaten. Punam and her siblings came to be called the ‘witch’s children’. An indignant Punam confronted her tormentors once but decided it was better to leave the village.

She left for Ranchi to complete her class 10. She came in contact with like-minded people and with a small grant of Rs 25,000 she set up an organisation called Mahila Sangathan whose objective is to work in slums. She was just 19 then. Today, the organisation covers 32 slum colonies in Ranchi and holds rallies and protests. Their drama Gudkayan Dahato to create awareness on the issue of women being unfairly branded as witches has gained recognition all over Jharkhand. Today at 23, Punam works with many social organisations on the issue of violence against women. “I actively promote stage dramas to create awareness among people,” she says.