She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.
The story of Biro Bala Rava (born 1959) reads like an inspirational, if medieval, battle between good and evil: Biro lives in a remote, backward village in Assam, where she has been fighting to save women condemned to death as « witches ». She then moved on to other equally vitiating issues that affect the lives of those around her, showing exceptional courage in the face of personal danger and isolation by family and community, and perseverance in fighting against the custom that demonizes women. And she is winning. (1000peacewomen)
It is said: In Biro Bala Rava’s world, hunting those branded as ‘witches’ had an economic aspect. So, she used the modern weaponry of women’s education to counter a heinous practice.
Media reports suggest that, over the past decade, there has been an increase in incidents of witch-hunts in India. Some reports say that several women have been attacked and killed because they were allegedly involved in black magic. Most of the « witches » are women from dalit or tribal communities. (full text).
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Biro Bala Rava – India
She works for Borjhara Tobarani Mahila Samata Sangha (mentionned on Business Line and on South Asia One World.net).
Biro Bala Rava alias « Bogi » was born in 1949 in Tridumpur, Goalpara district in Assam to Kaleya Ram Rava and Sagar Bala Rava. She had two elder brothers, both of whom died. Her two surviving siblings are an older sister and a younger brother. Biro’s father was an illiterate cultivator of 10 paltry bighas. Biro’s mother had studied a little, and little Biro herself studied only up to Class V. She was married in 1964 at the age of 15 to Sandhi Charan Rava, also a cultivator from Barjhora village, who had studied up to Class X. The couple has three boys and a girl.
Biro’s eldest son has a mental illness, which was a constant source of trepidation through all the backbreaking housework, and other pressures of daily living. An ojha (traditional healer; exorcist) had declared that her son was « married » to a fairy, destined to die when they would beget a child. Her son is yet alive, a standing pronouncement against the hogwash of traditional and unthinking contumacy. She tried expressing this insight to some women, but in vain.
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