Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi has been working with the poorest of the poor in India for three decades, and knows very well the link between social deprivation and torture. “Poverty, caste system, patriarchy are the main reasons behind torture and organised violence in this country,” says the founder and CEO of the People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR), IRCT’s members in Varanasi, India’s spiritual capital. Over the years, Dr Lenin estimates his organisation and its network have helped some 300,000 survivors of violence and freed 40,000 bonded labourers. “What’s our learning? If you provide humanitarian support, with the participation of the survivor … you create the hope, honour, and human dignity. These are the three Hs for the survivors.”