A three member Jury - Hon. Justice Shri. R. Jayasimha
Babu, (former Senior Judge, Madras High Court) Mr. Akbar Mirza Khaleeli,
(former Ambassador of India to different countries and Board of Trustee of VIM)
and Dr. Cherian Thomas, (Director of Ecumenical Christian Centre and Secretary
& Trustee of VIM)
unanimously selected Smt.
Bandari Jayamma for the award from among the nominations received from various parts of
the Country.
Smt. Bandari
Jayamma, has contributed immensely in the field of anti-human trafficking and
rescued and rehabilitated thousands of young girls, children and women who were
being forced into commercial sex work and she has consistently promoted and
protected the rights of commercial sex workers in Hyderabad. Ms. Jayamma
herself was a victim of human trafficking and she was first sex worker got
rescued and given a dignified job as Coordinator in one of the leading NGOs in
Andhra Pradesh. As things progressed,
she has rehabilitated number of commercial sex workers and established
Chaithanya Mahila Mandali (CMM) in 2001. As a president of CMM, Mrs. Jayamma addresses
the issues and concerns of neglected and suffering group of society – sex
workers. Today, Mrs. Jayamma is known as Mother Jayamma in Hyderabad.
Vigil India Movement instituted the M. A. Thomas National
Human Rights Award in 1994 in memory of its Founder President Late Dr. M.A.
Thomas. The Award with One Lakh of
Rupees and a Citation will be presented to Mrs. Jayamma at an award ceremony to
be held at Hyderabad preferably in August 2014 in line with the birth anniversary of the Founder (10 August).