Remembering Nirmala Sharma

A tribute often paid to social activists is of their lifelong commitment. It is rare

to find someone who got involved with social commitments in middle age and then very quickly established a reputation for complete honesty and limitless courage. This would be even more unexpected for a woman who had hitherto been confined mainly to family responsibilities in a middle-class Delhi household. However, this is precisely what Nirmala Sharma achieved in Delhi, starting around 1991 at the age of 44 and continuing for about 25 years till her tragic death in the middle of several struggles.

Nirmala Sharma formed an organisation called Jagriti Mahila Samiti (JMS or Committee for the Social Awakening of Women) which soon acquired a well-deserved reputation of taking up the cause of several distressed women in highly determined ways. Nirmala did not step back from helping these women even when she was personally beaten up by the oppressors of these women who had escaped law by paying bribes. She faced these oppressors and corrupt officials with courage right inside their homes, police stations and courts, fighting long legal battles in very adverse conditions.

As the reputation of her efforts spread fast, she was invited by one of the most well-established women