Indian acid attack victim recieves International women of courage award

Washington: Laxmi, an acid attack victim and a standard-bearer for the movement to end acid attacks in India, was on Tuesday honoured in US with the prestigious International Women of Courage Award.
Laxmi read her first poem at the ceremony defiantly telling her attacker “you will hear and you will be told, that the face you burned is the face I love now. You will hear about me in the darkness of confinement. The time will be a burden for you, when you will know that I am alive, free and thriving and living my dreams.”
“Many acid attack victims never return to normal life: they often go to great lengths to hide their disfigurement, many forgo education or employment rather than appear in public, and suicide is not uncommon. But Laxmi did not hide,” the State Department said.
Last year, Nirbhaya, a courageous 23-year-old girl whose brutal gang rape on a moving bus in Delhi in December 2012, triggered widespread protests, received the prestigious award.

Established in 2007, the annual Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award honours women around the globe who have exemplified exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for human rights, women’s equality, and social progress, often at great personal risk.