In 2009, Shaheen Malik endured a devastating acid attack in Panipat while pursuing her MBA, leaving permanent scars on her face and one eye, along with 25 surgeries and a grueling legal fight. On December 4, 2025, while representing survivors in a PIL hearing on their rights, Justice Surya Kant took note of her personal case and urged a speedy trial. Just 20 days later, on December 24, a Delhi court acquitted the three accused due to investigative shortcomings. This ruling Shaheen vows to appeal in the High Court.
These stark realities highlight the systemic obstacles she battles, propelling her leadership at Brave Souls Foundation to provide vital support for survivors nationwide.
Shaheen Recalls Her Recovery
Shaheen vividly recalls her post-attack recovery as an exhausting ordeal of endless hospital visits to Apollo for facial surgeries and AIIMS for eye treatments, coupled with crippling financial strain from procedures and costly eye drops. She covered her face in long queues, sensed herself becoming a silent burden on her family despite their unspoken support, avoided the balcony, and even asked her mother if she found her disfigured face unsettling, all while fearing no employer would hire her.
“I faced a huge financial burden from surgeries and legal battles, I had so many surgeries, my eye drops were so expensive. The case was stagnant, I had told who was the accused, FIR was registered but still no further procedure was done. It was a very confusing phase of my life, where I didn’t know what to do,” she shared in conversation with The Logical Indian. “Because if the heart is not happy, nothing feels nice.”
From Survivor to Leader
By 2013, encounters with other survivors, some completely blind and suffering far worse, revealed the absence of dedicated NGOs, inspiring Shaheen to draw from her own struggles and offer them medical aid and legal guidance, including free treatments at top private hospitals and support for cases involving entire families. “When I met them, some survivors were completely blind, and then I realised there are survivors who are suffering much more than me; if they can survive, why can’t I?” she reflected.
This pivot restored her sense of happiness. “After helping some people, I felt some sense of happiness and satisfaction.” Her grassroots efforts evolved into a broader mission, setting the stage for organized change.
Founding Brave Souls Foundation
Established in 2021 after years of hands-on support connecting to 300 survivors, Brave Souls Foundation addresses critical gaps in survivor care through a comprehensive approach: securing free medical treatment, pursuing legal justice, claiming compensation, building job skills, and combating stigma.
With offices across five states, Uttar Pradesh, Chandigarh (P&H) and Kolkata, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi, plus pan-India networks, it has enabled more than 200 surgeries, obtained relief for 150+, and litigated 200+ cases with strong conviction rates. “There were no NGOs helping us at that time, so I had done everything on my own and had learnt from my experience. I felt I should work on this issue, because I had seen all these struggles,” she explained to The Logical Indian, underscoring her survivor-led model that brings unwavering persistence to fights the system too often abandons.
Apna Ghar: A Sanctuary for Healing
In 2021, realizing no organization offered holistic, long-term support, where one group handled legal battles briefly and another medical aid only to their limit, Shaheen founded Apna Ghar, a Delhi shelter home started with her savings and later donor support, providing a peaceful, judgment-free space for 70 to 80 survivors annually.
It delivers pre- and post-operative care during recovery, mental trauma therapy, psychiatric help if needed, foundational classes in English, G.K., and computers, and then employable skills training once stable. “We also needed a space where a survivor can live peacefully, without the fear of judgment. At that time, I didn’t know where I would get money from or raise funds from.
At that time with savings we started Apna Ghar and eventually some good people joined in and gave their support,” she told The Logical Indian. Yet even in their building, where residents know the organization’s purpose, prejudice festers: neighbors complain their day gets ruined if they see survivors’ faces, treating them like aliens while perpetrators marry and settle easily.
Battling Systemic Barriers
Acid sales continue unchecked even in Shaheen’s own colony, police inspire fear rather than security, and cases drag despite fast-track orders like Justice Dipak Misra’s 2014 directive for day-to-day trials in hers. The court’s acquittal in her case sends a chilling message: “This will go as a very negative message to the society, because the girls who would have gotten probably inspired from a positive judgement and come out and spoken, they have been demotivated now… even after 16 years of battle, struggle, justice is not served then what is the point of fighting. A lot of people opt for settlements… In my case it’s not only justice delayed, it’s also justice denied.”
Many settle for 2 to 4 lakh rupees for treatments, as “nobody listens to you, the police, the judiciary, the entire system,” she notes. “The biggest problem in our country is implementation. Orders exist on paper but are not implemented. Our system has everything, including corruption but severely lacks sensitivity.” Brave Souls pushes Victim Compensation Scheme reforms across states countering injustice where attackers roam free after brief jail stints.
Path to Independence and Dignity
The foundation’s nationwide outreach connects survivors to resources, from Allahabad High Court cases to remote interventions like a Panipat survivor with similar disfigurement stalled without a chargesheet despite CCTV evidence. Employment remains rare, only 5 to 8% of 300 survivors secure jobs amid rental and hiring discrimination, yet initiatives build resilience.
“When a girl is financially independent, she is respected. The only goal is to reach every such girl, bring her out of darkness and make them independent,” she asserts, aspiring to end acid attacks so the NGO becomes obsolete: “I want that in the coming future, people don’t need us. This crime stops and then I shift to some other issue.”
Call for Collective Action
Shaheen issues a powerful rallying cry: “I want to say one thing to people reading this, whenever a woman raises her voice, it’s not her alone, it’s for everyone, every girl in the society. So we all should support each other and raise our collective voice so that it reaches.”
Through Brave Souls, she fights on: “I will go to the high court and fight, I don’t want to let them roam free. This is not just my case, it is for everyone.” This advances justice, self-reliance, and inclusion, proving survivor-led work heals far beyond physical scars.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Shaheen Malik’s journey through Brave Souls Foundation exemplifies the essence of purpose-driven change, where personal scars become symbols of collective strength.
In a society still grappling with acid attack stigma and judicial delays, her work offers not just aid but hope, reminding us that true justice demands survivor-led action, societal empathy, and systemic reform. The Logical Indian salutes her unwavering fight, urging readers to support initiatives that empower victims to become victors.
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