80-year-old former philosophy professor and activist Roop Rekha Verma was part of a PIL to the Supreme Court against the remission orders for 11 men convicted for the gang rape of Bilkis Bano in 2002, and lends her support to fight communal tensions and gender injustices
Roop Rekha Verma confesses that she had made up her mind to “speak with a restrictive terminology and voice” during the interview with Forbes India.
“But I cannot,” says the 80-year-old activist, who was the former acting vice chancellor of the Lucknow University, where she taught and headed the department of philosophy. “To make sure I’m not in conflict with myself, perforce, I have to keep doing what I am doing,” she says, her voice steady, calm and resolute. It is the same voice that has made the country sit up and take notice so many times in the past, when Verma, in a simple act of gumption, stood up for what she believes in.
(This story appears in the 22 March, 2024 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)