“I am Dr Asha Achy Joseph; a woman who has survived sexual assault at the workplace.”

These were the opening lines of a powerful column by documentary filmmaker and academic Asha Achy Joseph, in which she publicly identified as the complainant in the sexual assault case against former MLA and producer PT Kunju Muhammed. Through the column, published in Malayala Manorama in February, she was waiving the right to anonymity accorded to sexual assault complainants by law.

In the column, and in multiple interviews afterwards, Asha is clear about why she chose to come out publicly. The use of terms like “victim” and “survivor,” she wrote, made her feel as if society was attempting to erase her basic right to exist as an individual. No woman, she said, should be silenced in the name of protection or safety. By raising her voice now, she hoped another woman might feel a little less afraid about speaking out tomorrow. 

In deciding to reveal her identity, Asha joined two other complainants in high-profile sexual assault cases in Kerala: Sister Ranit MJ, the nun who accused the then bishop Franco Mulakkal of rape and revealed her identity in January this year, and Bhavana, the well-known actor who was abducted and sexually assaulted in 2017. 

Their stand is yet another reminder that “shame must change sides” — the powerful phrase used by France’s Gisele Pelicot, who waived her anonymity in 2024 during the trial of her husband and 50 other men accused of drugging and raping her, transforming her into a global icon. 

But the choices made by Asha, Sister Ranit, and Bhavana also raise difficult questions in India. If adult survivors wish to publicly identify themselves, why does doing so remain so complicated? Does the law meant to protect them sometimes end up limiting their agency? And how should society view these decisions – as individual acts of courage or as a reminder that more women are not enabled to make this choice?

To examine these questions, TNM spoke to lawyers and activists including Flavia Agnes and Supreme Court advocate Vrinda Grover, as well as former Supreme Court judge Justice........

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