From Silence to Voice: Ashraf Ali’s Journey Towards Dignity and Justice
From Silence to Voice: Ashraf Ali’s Journey Towards Dignity and Justice
An IRCT-Supported Survivor-Centred Account of Testimonial Therapy, Recognition and the Continuing Pursuit of Justice
Introduction
Survivor-centred rehabilitation extends beyond the resolution of a legal case. For people who have experienced violence, physical injury and institutional neglect, rehabilitation may also involve being heard, having their experiences recognised, rebuilding confidence and regaining the ability to speak about their rights.
The experience of Ashraf Ali illustrates this dimension of rehabilitation. His engagement with PVCHR/Jan Mitra Nyas (JMN), with support from the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), created an opportunity to connect human-rights accompaniment with psychosocial support, Testimonial Therapy and social recognition.
IRCT describes rehabilitation as a holistic process that can include medical, psychological, legal and social support. Its current survivor-engagement approach places particular emphasis on survivors having an active role in their own healing, exercising their rights and participating in the pursuit of justice.
Ashraf’s story does not represent a completed journey of justice. Rather, it illustrates how being listened to, supported and recognised can contribute to a survivor’s confidence to continue seeking justice.
Encounter with PVCHR/JMN
In 2024, Ashraf Ali came into contact with Omkar Vishwkarma, Advocate and National Coordinator of PVCHR. At that time, Ashraf was experiencing significant distress following violence, physical injuries, difficulties in obtaining effective police action and the continuing pressure associated with his legal case. The memories of the incident and the pain he had carried for a prolonged period were also affecting him emotionally.
Omkar ji listened to Ashraf’s account with seriousness and empathy and reassured him that he did not have to face his experience alone. This initial act of listening was significant. It created a space in which Ashraf could articulate an experience that had remained largely internalised.
For survivors of torture and other forms of violence, such spaces can be important because the experience of violence may affect not only physical and psychological wellbeing but also social relationships, economic security and the ability to speak about what happened. IRCT’s rehabilitation framework therefore emphasises holistic support and the participation of survivors in their rehabilitation.
Testimonial Therapy: From Experience to Testimony
Ashraf was subsequently supported through Testimonial Therapy, a structured, narrative-based psychosocial approach in which survivors are supported to articulate and document their experiences of human-rights violations.
The approach has a particular history in India. A collaborative pilot between PVCHR in Varanasi and the Rehabilitation and Research Centre for Torture Victims (RCT), Copenhagen, explored Testimonial Therapy as a brief psychosocial intervention for survivors of torture. The methodology combined testimony, psychosocial support and a process of social recognition.
IRCT has also documented testimonial therapy in India among rehabilitation interventions supported through its grants, including work with PVCHR.
In Ashraf’s case, the process provided an opportunity to speak about the violence he had experienced, his physical injuries, his disappointment with the police response and his continuing efforts to seek justice.
For Ashraf, narrating these experiences was deeply emotional. The pain and suffering that he had carried internally for a long time could finally be expressed in words. As he spoke, he experienced a sense of emotional relief and began to feel that his suffering was being heard and that his voice mattered.
Testimonial Therapy is significant in this context because testimony can connect personal experience, psychosocial wellbeing, social recognition and the pursuit of justice. Research on the Indian pilot reported positive changes in psychological wellbeing among participants, while also identifying the need for further research because of the pilot’s limited sample and design.
Recognition and Dignity
Following the Testimonial Therapy process, Ashraf was honoured at a recognition ceremony. For him, the occasion was more than a formal programme. It represented recognition of his struggle and courage.
At a time when he had experienced isolation and powerlessness, public recognition provided an important experience of dignity and strengthened his confidence.
Recognition is an important dimension of survivor-centred work, although it should not be understood as a substitute for legal accountability or other forms of redress. Rather, it can complement those processes by affirming that the survivor’s experience has been heard and that their dignity matters.
The academic literature on Testimonial Therapy in Asia has similarly examined the role of testimony ceremonies in providing social recognition to survivors and connecting individual experiences with wider processes of collective acknowledgement.
From Pain to Voice
Through his interaction with Omkar ji, the Testimonial Therapy process and the recognition ceremony, Ashraf received an opportunity to express his pain, be heard and stand with dignity.
His confidence to speak about his experience and continue raising his voice for his rights became stronger. The legal process remains challenging, however. The significance of his journey therefore lies not in presenting justice as already achieved, but in documenting a change in his capacity to continue seeking it.
This distinction is important for survivor-centred rehabilitation. Success should not necessarily be understood only through the closure of a legal case. For some survivors, meaningful change may also involve psychosocial recovery, recognition, strengthened agency and continued participation in the pursuit of justice.
IRCT’s current survivor-engagement work similarly emphasises that survivors who wish to do so should be principal agents in their own healing journeys and should have opportunities to exercise their rights and participate in the fight for justice.
Ashraf Ali’s Own Reflection
Ashraf describes his experience in his own words:
“For a long time, I carried this pain inside me. When I shared my story, I felt that someone was listening to me. I was honoured, and it gave me the feeling that I was not alone. Now I have hope that my voice will be heard and that I will receive justice.”
The significance of these words lies in their simplicity. Ashraf does not say that his struggle has ended. He speaks instead of being heard, no longer feeling alone, and having hope that justice will be achieved.
Discussion: What Does Survivor-Centred Rehabilitation Mean?
Ashraf’s experience illustrates a broader principle of survivor-centred rehabilitation: being heard can itself be an important part of restoring agency.
His journey can be understood through several interconnected stages:
This does not mean that Testimonial Therapy alone resolves the consequences of violence. Nor should one individual experience be presented as evidence of universal therapeutic outcomes. The evidence base should be interpreted within its methodological limitations.
Rather, Ashraf’s experience provides a qualitative illustration of how psychosocial support can be integrated with human-rights work. It connects the personal experience of suffering with social recognition and the survivor’s continuing engagement with justice.
This is consistent with IRCT’s broader rehabilitation framework, which emphasises holistic, accessible and survivor-centred support and recognises the close relationship between rehabilitation, empowerment and justice.
From Silence to Voice
Ashraf’s story remains unfinished. His pursuit of justice continues, and significant challenges remain.
What has changed is his sense that he does not have to carry the experience entirely in silence. Through being listened to, narrating his experience and receiving recognition, he has found greater confidence to speak and to continue seeking justice.
His journey therefore should not be presented as a story of a problem that has been completely solved. It is a story of incremental change: from distress towards expression, from isolation towards recognition, and from silence towards a stronger voice.
As his own reflection makes clear:
“I felt that someone was listening to me.”
For survivor-centred human-rights practice, this can be an important starting point—not the end of justice, but a step towards voice, dignity, recognition and agency.
Acknowledgement
This survivor story is documented from the work of PVCHR/Jan Mitra Nyas (JMN), with support from the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT).
The story forms part of a broader survivor-centred approach linking psychosocial rehabilitation, human-rights accompaniment, testimony, recognition and access to justice.
IRCT identifies PVCHR as an Indian member organisation and has documented its work in testimonial therapy and broader rehabilitation support for survivors in India.
Citation
Agger, I., Raghuvanshi, L., Shabana, S., Polatin, P., & Laursen, L. K. (2009). Testimonial therapy: A pilot project to improve psychological wellbeing among survivors of torture in India. Torture, 19(3), 204–217.
Agger, I., Igreja, V., Kiehle, R., & Polatin, P. (2012). Testimony ceremonies in Asia: Integrating spirituality in testimonial therapy for torture survivors in India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Transcultural Psychiatry, 49(3–4), 568–589.
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