Comic book highlighting menace of sex trafficking launched

To generate awareness among teenagers about ‘sex trafficking’, the third part of the comic book series ‘Priya’s Shakti’, called ‘Priya and the Lost Girls’, was launched on Saturday at the Sheroes’ Hangout Café, Agra, which is run by acid attack survivors.

The innovative augmented reality comic book features a female Indian superhero ‘Priya’. “This launch is a part of ‘16 days of activism against gender-based violence’ -- an international campaign meant to challenge violence against women and girls,” shared producer and co-writer Ram Devineni during the event.

The first two parts of the comic book series dealt with rape survivors and acid attack survivors respectively.

Ram said that the writer of the book, Dipti Mehta, had researched the red-light areas of Mumbai for her award-winning show ‘Honour’. “Priya is a female superhero of the #MeToo generation. She inspires teenagers to treat women differently, especially victims of sexual abuse,” said Ram.

Talking about the augmented reality comic book, he said, “It integrates cutting-edge technology and is one of the first to use augmented reality -- a technology in which elements of the physical world are enhanced with the help of computer inputs.”

“By scanning the cover and pages of the comic book with the free augmented reality app – Artivive – readers can unlock exclusive content, including 3D-animation and real-life stories,” he added.

“The series was honoured by the UN Women as a ‘gender equality champion’ and got over 500,000 downloads along with extensive, worldwide media coverage,” said Ram.

He also talked about support from ‘Apne Aap Women Worldwide’ – an NGOs supporting at-risk girls and women in India and the USA, ensuring them access to their rights and working towards policy and social change.

Artists Syd Fini and Neda Kazemifar were spotted interacting with teenagers at the café.

A sketch contest was also organised in which children drew their favourite cartoon characters.