Set off warning: Point out of suicide, bodily abuse, rape and violence.
November 2008.
Abraham Biggs, a 19-year-old from Florida, posted a suicide observe on an internet discussion board for body-building. He switched on his webcam and what adopted was a tragedy past phrases.
He overdosed on capsules in entrance of 1000’s of individuals watching and lay down on his mattress along with his again to the webcam. No person took a step to assist him, or to search out out if he was useless or alive.
Many continents and time zones away, in Ahmedabad, one other teenager noticed this publish a number of hours later. Aghast at the truth that Abraham was not shifting, he alerted different members that it was not a static body and the webcam was streaming repeatedly.
When nobody appeared bothered, this younger boy, Dushyant Dubey, dug round and located Abraham’s actual title, location and cellphone quantity. He promptly handed this data to different discussion board members who had been principally American, hoping that they’d act instantly.
No person did something.
A time earlier than social media, smartphones and limitless calling, Dushyant woke his dad and mom up in a panic, activated worldwide calling on his mom’s cellphone and known as the Miami police division’s emergency line.
“Whereas combating tears, I attempted my finest to convey to them what was occurring, and so they saved transferring me to totally different individuals, till they related me to somebody who instructed me that his cellphone was from the Broward County in Florida, and that I ought to contact the Sheriff of that space,” says Dushyant.
Since his mom’s cellphone had run out of steadiness, he shared this quantity with the discussion board, urging them to make the decision to the Sheriff. Fortunately, somebody known as the Sheriff. When Dushyant made the decision — this time from his father’s cellphone — he was instructed that the cops had been on their manner.
Shortly after, he watched on the dwell stream as cops entered and coated the digicam. Few hours later, Abraham’s sister posted on the discussion board that he had handed away.
This incident has made its manner onto a analysis paper in regards to the significance of web mediations and good samaritans the place the 17-year-old from India finds point out.
What it additionally did is assist this younger boy discover his goal in life — serving to others. His intrinsic goodness and splendid effort to assist a stranger dwelling in a faraway nation was appreciated by individuals around the globe, with messages pouring in.
“I by no means acquired it, I by no means understood why what I did deserved a lot reward and commendation. I simply did what anybody else ought to have performed; what the very first one who noticed that publish ought to have performed,” says Dushyant.
That incident modified the younger boy utterly, and turned him right into a compassionate teenager for whom serving to others grew to become a mission.
Lower to 17 years later, this good samaritan, generally known as St Broseph or Batman of Bengaluru on Reddit, has helped over 5,000 individuals resolve their issues, starting from home violence, stalking, civic points, theft, landlord woes and way more.
He has braved demise threats, police intimidation and way more. After quitting his job as advertising supervisor in July 2023, he has been absolutely dedicated to social work.
The St Broseph Basis works on varied initiatives similar to girls empowerment, civic and authorized consciousness, psychological well being assist, scholar points, authorized assist, profession counselling in addition to supporting victims of home violence.
The Basis additionally runs secure areas generally known as the St Broseph Safehouses, that are absolutely furnished flats providing free lodging and safety to victims of crime who’re bodily at-risk.
The NGO has over 8,000 volunteers, 15 chapters, and 400 coordinators in Bengaluru, with volunteers based mostly in Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai as properly.
Batman of Bengaluru
Rising up in Ahmedabad, the seeds of altruism had been sown in Dushyant by his father. Even when he noticed a punctured automobile on the street, he would assist the motive force. As talked about earlier, the basic shift in his considering occurred because of the tragic incident in 2008.
Dushyant began volunteering in numerous NGOs as a young person, first in Ahmedabad, after which in Bengaluru, the place he moved for work. He labored with totally different initiatives throughout animal welfare, home violence, civic points, authorized rights and extra.
“I constructed numerous contacts wherever I went. My father taught me numerous sensible issues in regards to the justice system as a toddler. I learnt how you can get issues performed at authorities workplaces. Due to this fact, after I moved to Bengaluru, I used to be the person who everybody began coming to for doable options,” Dushyant shares with The Higher India.
Attributable to his energetic presence on Reddit for greater than a decade, he was one of many moderators of the Bengaluru subreddit. His social work continued on the bottom along with his work as a advertising supervisor on the Mahindra group.
Issues took an fascinating flip publish the COVID-19 pandemic when workplaces began reopening and other people returned to cities like Bengaluru. It was then that folks began posting their issues on Reddit. St Broseph (his Reddit username), began serving to individuals out.
Within the late 2000s, many variations of the phrase Bro had been used, particularly on on-line boards, starting from Broski, Broseph, Broseidon, Brobama, Bromance and extra. Broseph referred to somebody who helps out different individuals it doesn’t matter what. His on-line pals began calling him that, and the remaining is historical past.
Individuals then began tagging him on different posts too. Inundated with direct messages, he created a thread on r/bangalore three years in the past, asking individuals to contact him for any issues they face.
“I wish to attain out to anybody studying this and inform you guys that you simply’re not alone on this metropolis. I’m volunteering to be the ‘contact’ or ‘backup’ for all of you for once you get right into a shifty scenario and wish to get out of it, for when you end up in the course of an unexpected concern and don’t know who to name or what to do,” he wrote.
This thread is essentially the most upvoted thread of all time on the subreddit. From right here on, he acquired over 1,000 messages from individuals asking for his quantity within the subsequent few months.
“As of at the moment, nearly 50,000 individuals in Bengaluru have my quantity, and have contacted me for one thing. The previous three years have been fairly a journey. I’m simply glad that I’m in a position to assist individuals out,” he shares.
Largely, individuals attain out to him for cyber crimes, stalking, sexual harassment, on-line harassment by ex-boyfriends or stalkers, home violence, landlord woes.
Messiah for the lots
At first, Dushyant would resolve every drawback himself. Because the variety of individuals reaching out elevated, he arrange a St Broseph’s military, with volunteers and arrange an workplace in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar.
Hey guys! St. Broseph right here. I’m a Social Employee and a Redditor since 10 years. I’ve helped 1000’s of Redditors cope with their issues in Bengaluru and have began the St. Broseph Military, a volunteer group with 2000+ energetic members. Ask me something about my journey social work, or anything!
byu/St_Broseph inindiasocial
Explaining the method, when an individual reaches out, in circumstances of emergency, like damage in home violence circumstances, sexual harassment, rape, they first take them to a hospital and get them rapid therapy.
“In medico authorized circumstances, it’s crucial to take the sufferer to the hospital and get all of the checks performed and be sure that no proof is misplaced,” he explains.
In different circumstances, Dushyant or some volunteer speaks to the particular person to grasp what transpired. They collect data and proof to make their case sturdy. As soon as the knowledge and information are in, they write a police grievance.
“It’s important to be empathetic when speaking to victims. It’s necessary to grasp the place they’re coming from and be there for them,” he provides.
Appreciation publish for St Broseph
byu/antisociallysocial1 inbangalore
Since Dushyant is well-versed with all the necessities of a police case, he ensures that every one the information, dates, timings, formatting, attachments and proof can be found when a sufferer visits the police station.
St Broseph or his volunteers compose the grievance, run it by a lawyer, and as soon as all of the checks and balances are performed, they accompany the sufferer to the police station and be sure that an FIR is registered. In addition they accompany them to the courtroom and consequent hearings.
For civic points, they assist by talking to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officers or registering complaints on the BBMP apps.
“We take the official/authorized path to get issues resolved,” he says.
He shares a narrative of an 18-year-old lady who was being held captive in her residence in Hyderabad and was rescued by town and Bengaluru chapter collectively.
“I posted on the Hyderabad subreddit looking for assist. My father would abuse my mom and as soon as nearly hit me too. He didn’t let me proceed college after Class 7. I used to be terrified,” she shares with The Higher India.
In a covert operation, the Hyderabad volunteers rescued her and despatched her on a prepare to Bengaluru. The North Bengaluru volunteers acquired her on the station and introduced her to the workplace. She now stays at one of many safehouses and is pursuing her training via open education. Dushyant helped her get a checking account and ID playing cards (which she didn’t have). She’s even getting her driver’s licence now.
A passionate artist, she is trying ahead to creating a profession in artwork. She reclaimed her freedom, because of form strangers on the web.
Nevertheless, such charitable deeds include a number of risks as properly. This lady’s father known as the police, who visited the St Broseph workplace and questioned Dushyant. He confronted all of it and fought the case legally, guaranteeing justice for the lady.
In one other case, he personally went to Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu to rescue a lady (23) whose household was attempting to get her married towards her needs.
The following morning at 2:30am, three Tamil Nadu policemen together with Bengaluru policemen, and the lady’s dad and mom knocked on Dushyant’s door, assaulting and abusing him.
“These monsters tried to pull Dushyant in direction of the principle street and put him into their civilian automobile. They used pressure and ganged up on him when he resisted this blatant abuse of energy. They tried dragging him right into a automobile and god is aware of what would’ve occurred if he had been to go along with them,” shared a Reddit person on r/Bangalore.
However Dushyant stays cool once you ask him about how he faces such threats. His solely focus is on serving to as many individuals as doable.
A self-funded darkish knight
To date, Dushyant says that every one his actions are self-funded. After quitting his job final yr, he’s been operating the complete operation utilizing his financial savings. Registered as an NGO now, he’s often helped by a number of people. He accepts that going ahead, he would want exterior assist (funding) to proceed serving to others.
Whereas he funds remedy for others, how does he cope with these tough, heavy issues on a day by day foundation? There may be additionally numerous counselling concerned to make sure that the sufferer is comfy. Dushyant additionally sponsors remedy for lots of victims, operating up payments of Rs 25,000-30,000 per 30 days.
Coping with such circumstances can get fairly heavy, as you might be coping with the hopes and despair of fogeys who want to get justice for his or her youngsters.
“There are specific circumstances, sure points like this which actually shakes you to the core. While you see individuals nearly lose their need to dwell, it actually weighs you down. What retains me going is the need to get them justice,” he says.
One such instance was the case of Aditya Prabhu, a younger boy who took his life on account of harassment from school authorities. Dushyant was very vocal about getting justice for Aditya, for which he spent numerous time along with his dad and mom and organised protests for Aditya in Bengaluru.
In one other case of a lacking physician in Ahmedabad, Dushyant personally went there and helped the dad and mom file a case. It took 8 months of relentless efforts for the police to truly file an FIR, says Dushyant.
Reddit is stuffed with appreciation posts for St Broseph, who goes above and past to assist others, with individuals calling him Batman and thanking him for the whole lot he does.
Hitesh, a scholar, took Dushyant’s assist to discover a answer for a pervert who was flashing girls within the neighbourhood. He was in a position to register a grievance and the case is in courtroom now.
“Broseph helped us with all the main points about submitting a grievance and what proof is required. He was instrumental in these girls looking for justice. His workforce adopted up with us and helped us in each step. We have now our personal Batman in Bengaluru,” says Hitesh.
Many would query, “What’s in it for him?”
“You’ve gotten the proper to work however by no means to its fruits. Let not the fruits of motion be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction,” is his mantra.
He candidly accepts that whereas saying it’s simple, there are tough days. However figuring out that that is the proper path helps him.
“Social staff ought to forgo the considered any private achieve from their work. This work is strictly for society, and any form of expectations will solely serve to convey it down. The second you don’t count on something, you’ll free your self as much as really do the whole lot. That’s what I’m going by,” he says.
His devastation at Abraham’s demise made it crucial for him to assist anybody he may. And that’s precisely what he’s been doing. Whereas Bengaluru is swarming with tech bros, we’d like extra Brosephs throughout the nation. Maybe we must always think about emulating his selfless actions.
In case you want to assist him, you would donate to broseph@upi. You can too be a part of his military by visiting the web site broseph.in.
Edited by Padmashree Pande, Photos Courtesy: Dushyant Dubey.
