Testimonial Therapy: From Testimony to Dignity
Testimonial Therapy: From Testimony to Dignity
PVCHR–Jan Mitra Nyas conducts first session, second session and Honour Ceremony with the Banwasi family
As part of its Testimonial Therapy process, the PVCHR–Jan Mitra Nyas team conducted a series of sessions with members of the Banwasi family following the death of Ramjanam Banwasi, a labourer whose death left his wife and four young children without their family’s primary support.
The process included the First Testimonial Therapy Session, the Second Session, and an Honour Ceremony, through which the family's experience was listened to, documented and returned to them as a written testimony.
First Session: Creating Space for the Voice of the Survivor
The first session focused on creating a safe and respectful space in which the family could speak about their experience in their own words.
Munni Banwasi, around 60 years old and the mother of Sita Devi, narrated how her daughter and son-in-law had been working as labourers at a brick kiln in Varanasi. She described the devastating moment when the family was shown a video of Ramjanam and subsequently learned that he had died.
The testimony records the family's account of Ramjanam being beaten after asking for water. His repeated plea that he was a labourer and had come because he was thirsty became one of the most painful memories for the family.
For the Testimonial Therapy team, listening itself became an important part of the intervention: allowing the family to articulate grief, loss, fear and their search for justice without reducing their experience to a case number.
Second Session: From Painful Memory to Testimony
The second session helped the family develop their memories into a structured testimonial narrative.
Sita Devi, Ramjanam's wife, described their life as labourers, her husband's illness, their last meeting and the circumstances in which she learned about his death. She described the emotional impact of seeing the video and hearing her husband's pleas.
Her testimony also records the family's concerns about the young person who reportedly recorded the incident. The family sought information about his whereabouts and expressed concern for his safety.
The second session therefore moved beyond the immediate expression of grief. The testimony became a means through which the family could articulate memory, suffering, dignity, accountability and their demands for justice.
Sita Devi concludes her testimony with a clear request for an impartial investigation, appropriate legal action and justice for her family, while also asking that the person who recorded the incident be located and protected.
Honour Ceremony: Returning the Testimony to the Survivor
The final stage of the process was the Honour Ceremony.
The photographs document this important moment. Members of the PVCHR–Jan Mitra Nyas team presented the completed testimonial document to the family members. The survivors were photographed holding their testimony, while staff members participated in the presentation and discussion.
The ceremony symbolises an important principle of Testimonial Therapy:
The survivor's story belongs to the survivor.
The written testimony gives form to memories that might otherwise remain fragmented or unheard. Presenting the testimony back to the survivor recognises their experience and their right to have their voice documented with dignity.
The photographs also show the family and members of the team sitting together around the table, reflecting on the testimony and its significance.
A Family's Voice, Preserved
The testimony of Munni Banwasi expresses the impact of Ramjanam's death on her daughter and four grandchildren. She describes a family that lost its emotional and economic support and asks that the death not be forgotten.
Sita Devi's testimony similarly documents the loss of her husband and the consequences for their four young children.
Kamla Banwasi, Sita's father, describes the suffering of watching his daughter become a widow and his grandchildren grow up without their father. He also calls for an impartial investigation, legal action and protection for the person who recorded the incident.
Together, the three testimonies transform an individual tragedy into a family narrative of memory, loss, dignity and the demand for justice.
From Trauma to Agency
The Testimonial Therapy process can be understood through three connected stages:
For PVCHR and Jan Mitra Nyas, the purpose is not simply to produce a document. It is to create a process in which survivors are heard, their experiences are preserved, and their dignity is affirmed.
The completed testimony becomes both a personal record and a reminder that behind every human-rights case is a person, a family and a story that deserves to be heard.
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