16th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
TO DWELL IN THE AFTERMATH OF VIOLENCE

Laxmi (named changed for safety), 22, spend time on a motorcycle at her parents house while the neighbors watch her. Jul, 2018. Madhya Pradesh, India.. Jul, 2018. Madhya Pradesh, India. Laxmi was kidnapped by a man who had asked her hand on several previous occasions and who, with the help of his other wife, sold her in the state of Rajasthan for $50,000 rupees ($700 usd) to 2 men who brutally raped her and then sold her again in Bangalore, where she was forced to marriage twice against her will and was continuously raped and mentally tortured until she managed to communicate with her family who rescued her and bought her back to the village emotionally and mentally broke. India, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, is the most dangerous country in the world to be a woman. Every day hundreds of rapes are committed and thousands more are left unreported, making it difficult to have a global view of the problem. Still, daily, hundreds of girls and woman are exposed to sexual violence, human trafficking and sexual and domestic enslavement. After months of being raped and tortured, In Mumbai she managed to call her brother Bhagun and told him what happened to her. He immediately informed his parents and the police about what happened and her current location. Police investigated ‘Amit’ the agressor, and rescued her and took her back to the Village. After the incident, her life was completely distorted. In addition, as social stigma, members of her community began to pressure her father not to reveal what happened to her. They built tremendous social pressure on her family. Afraid and under pressure her father found a man to marry her within a month. She has been married since then. She is now 5 months pregnant and dreams of escaping from her in-laws house.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 07.2018
Date Uploaded: 11.2018
Photo Location: Madhya Pradesh, India
Camera: X-Pro2
Copyright: © Juan Pablo Ampudia