'I've never seen a person who was burnt to this extent before': Rape victims punished with fire

'Anyone from the age of 12 to 40, that is consensual sex, not rape.'

Smita Sharma is an Indian photojournalist and documentary photographer. She was inspired to bring to light India's disgusting practice of ostracizing and blaming rape victims. In India, women are often forced to marry their rapists to protect their family's honor.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Sharma told Metro UK that she decided to photograph child and women victims of sexual assault due to the way the crime was reported in Indian media.

The Daily Mail reported some of the stories Sharma has brought to light through her ongoing project titled "Chronicles of Courage."

Shama, a young woman who attempted to fight off three men who were raping her, fell prey to a different gruesome crime. She was doused in kerosene and the men lit her on fire. The 20-year-old was sent to a hospital in Varanasi and her mother decided to share her daughter's story. 

Sharma told MailOnline: "I've never seen a person who was burnt to this extent before. Her brother and sister were in the hospital room, and they allowed me in. Technically I shouldn't have been there. But her mother wanted me to tell her story.

"When I went back to my hotel that night, after taking the pictures, a few of the neighbours of this girl, and the boys, were sitting exactly behind me at the next table. I overheard them talking about the girl, saying she had a bad character, talking about her modesty, trying to blame her."

Sadly, Shama died one week following the attack. 

"She had hope, she was studying. She was the only one in her family to get a university education," Sharma shared.

"She wanted to support them. There was one lawyer - a defense lawyer - who pointed his finger at me. 'You media people,' he told me, 'you are blowing it out of proportion. Anyone from the age of 12 to 40, that is consensual sex, not rape.' And he's a lawyer. That angered me. I know as a journalist I should not get emotional, but I was really angry."

Sharma described a six-year-old victim who could not be photographed as she was murdered. Sharma explained: "After she was murdered, I met with her entire family. I had the camera in my hand and her mum was explaining what happened that very evening.

"She turned to me and said, 'If he had to rape her, he could have raped her but why did he have to kill her? and [sic] then she looked at me and said 'Today at least my daughter would have been alive. He didn't even have that much decency to cover her body. Her arms were broken and she had marks on her body.'"

Sharma told Metro UK, "I felt like crying but I could not cry in front of her. These things are really difficult."

Sharma shared that "this issue has been very close to my heart because when I was 18, I was molested by a college professor and when I spoke up, I was shut down and called a spoiled child. That pain was buried inside me for a very long time.

"After my cousin was molested in December 2010 at her school, I felt a lot of anger that someone needed to do something. I could never see any photographer or journalist working on it. There were always reports about it but it was not about the people."

To kickstart her project, Sharma received help from small local non-profit organizations, health workers and lawyers. She began to meet survivors in December 2014.

In her interview, she added, "It was difficult, breaking the ice with them because they are already wounded. I didn't want to interrupt or bother them but I also needed to tell them why this was important and tell them that their story could help inspire others to speak out."

To help support Smita Sharma and her project about survivors of rape and sexual violence in India, please visit her kickstarter page.

The page has an $18,000 goal and has received 290 donations totaling $21,753.

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