Bujji's Ear is one woman and a small circle of volunteers in Bengaluru. We listen properly, and then we help you work out what to do next — no lectures, no forms, no rush.
FREE · 9 AM–9 PM, EVERY DAY · YOU DON'T HAVE TO GIVE YOUR NAME
Nothing here is too small, and nothing is too late. If it's keeping you awake, it's worth a call.
From a husband, a partner, in-laws or your own family. Hitting, threats, being locked in, being cut off from money.
Dowry demands, constant blame, being told to adjust and stay quiet, decisions made about your life without you.
Being pushed into an engagement, a date already fixed, your studies stopped for it. We have helped girls stop this.
No income of your own, debt in your name, needing a job or a skill. We know who is hiring and who trains for free.
School admissions, maintenance, custody, landlords who won't rent to a single mother. Practical help, one step at a time.
What the law actually gives you, what a complaint involves, and what it doesn't. Plain Kannada or plain English, your choice.
Some women call because there is no one at home they can say a true sentence to. That is a good enough reason.
Most women who call us waited years, because nobody had hit them yet, or because they were told this is just how marriage is. Some of these may sound familiar.
He decides what you may spend, and you have to account for every hundred rupees.
Your salary goes into an account you cannot touch, or your jewellery has quietly disappeared.
You check your phone before he does, and delete things that would be twisted against you.
Visits to your mother have to be earned, and your friends have slowly stopped calling.
Nothing is ever thrown at you — it is thrown near you, and then you are told you are imagining things.
Sex is not something you are asked about. Being married is treated as the answer.
Your in-laws bring up what your family did or didn't give, years after the wedding.
Any one of these is enough to call. You do not need bruises, and you do not need to be leaving.
We do not tell your family, your husband, your employer or the police anything — not unless you ask us to, and not before you are ready.
We don't keep a file on you. No address, no photograph, nothing written down that could be found. If you'd rather not say your name, don't.
You decide what happens next. We will tell you honestly what your options look like, including the hard parts — and then we'll go at your pace, even if that means waiting a year.
Fifteen years ago our founder sat in a police station in this city with two children and no idea what she was allowed to ask for. Women started calling her once word got round. She has been picking up the phone ever since.
Told with permission. Names, neighbourhoods and details have been changed so that nobody can be recognised.
"I only wanted to know if I was allowed to open my own bank account."
She was. We stayed on the phone through the paperwork, and she called again four months later to say she had saved enough for a deposit. She is still married and says she sleeps better.
37, GARMENT WORKER, EAST BENGALURU
"My engagement was fixed for June and my exams were in May."
We met her aunt first, then her father. It took five weeks and no police. She finished her degree; the wedding was postponed by two years and then quietly dropped.
19, STUDENT, NEAR MYSURU ROAD
"Nobody would rent to me once they heard I had left my husband."
Eleven house visits, two of them with a volunteer who spoke to the owner. She and her son have been in that flat for three years now, and she stood as a guarantor for another woman last month.
41, SINGLE MOTHER, SOUTH BENGALURU
A sister, a colleague, a neighbour, the woman who works in your house. Call and ask us what to say and what not to say — pushing her to leave usually backfires, and we can tell you why.
Do tell her you believe her, and that you will still be there whatever she decides.
Do keep a spare key, a bag, or ₹2,000 of hers at your place.
Don't confront him, and don't give her a deadline.
There is no waiting list and no intake process. You reach us, we talk, and we go from there.
Message any time. Say as little as you like — even just "hi". We reply within a few hours.
98450 00000We sit with women in a quiet room in Jayanagar, or somewhere near you that feels safe. Ask on the call.
BY APPOINTMENT ONLYNo questionnaire. Start wherever you want, including in the middle. Cry if you need to; we are not in a hurry.
If yes, that comes first — a safe place to sleep, a bag ready, a neighbour who can be told. Everything else can wait until tomorrow.
What each road costs — money, time, family, and how it usually goes in real life. Including the choice to change nothing for now.
We introduce you to a lawyer, a counsellor, a shelter or a hiring manager we personally know. Someone comes with you to the first appointment if you want.
If you are in danger right now, call 112, or the women's helpline 181. Then call us.
You do not have to be leaving to do any of this. Most of it takes twenty minutes and makes you safer whether you stay or go.
Aadhaar, PAN, marriage certificate, children's birth certificates and school records, bank passbook, property or jewellery bills, any medical report. Email them to yourself at an address he doesn't know, then delete the photos from your gallery.
Even ₹500 a month, held by your mother, a friend or in a small post office account. Money of your own is what buys you time to think.
Agree a plain sentence with a neighbour or sister — "have you seen my blue dupatta?" — that means come over now, or call me back in five minutes. Practise it once.
Which room has a door that locks and a window. Which way out avoids the kitchen. Where the spare key is. Avoid rooms with knives or the gas cylinder when an argument starts.
Two sets of clothes for you and the children, a charger, medicines, the papers, some cash. Keep it at a friend's or a relative's house, not in your own cupboard.
Date, what was said, what was done, who saw it. Keep it in an email draft to yourself, not on paper at home. If you ever need a case, this is what makes it stand up.
Use these directly if you'd rather not talk to us. Verify numbers before you rely on them — services move.
Women's Helpline
Government line, 24 hours, all languages. Can send police or an ambulance.
181
One Stop Centre
Police, medical, legal aid, counselling and up to five nights' shelter under one roof. Bengaluru Urban and Rural.
181 · ask for OSC
Protection Officer
Every district has one under the Domestic Violence Act. They file the application for a protection or residence order — free.
Via 181 or DC office
Legal Services Authority
A free lawyer, by right, for any woman regardless of income. District court complex.
15100
Mental health support
Tele-MANAS, the national line, free counselling in Kannada and English at any hour.
14416
Shelters
Sakhi and Swadhar homes take women with children. We know which ones are decent — please ask us first.
Call us
Chrome on Android: the three dots → History → Clear browsing data → "Last hour". On an iPhone: Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data.
Open an Incognito or Private tab before you visit us. Nothing is stored when you close it — and a suddenly empty history is itself noticeable.
Save our number under an ordinary name — a tailor, a school, an aunt. Delete the WhatsApp chat after you read our reply. Or borrow a friend's phone.
Bujji was our founder's grandmother's name for her — little one. When she was small and frightened, her grandmother would say: come, tell me, I have two good ears and all evening.
That is the whole idea. Most women who reach us have already been told by everyone around them to adjust, to think of the family, to not make it a big issue. Almost nobody has simply asked them what happened and then believed them.
We are not a large organisation and we do not pretend to be. There is one woman who answers the phone most days, a handful of volunteers who give evenings and weekends, and a network of lawyers, counsellors, shelters and employers across Bengaluru that has grown one favour at a time over fifteen years.
Not us, not your family. Many women choose to stay, and we keep helping them just the same.
Any caste, any religion, any income, married or not, from this city or newly arrived for work. Trans women too.
We will not promise you that a case is quick or that relatives will come round. You deserve the real picture.
Where it is safe, we work with mothers, brothers and in-laws. Sometimes that changes more than a complaint would.
No files, no register, no photographs, nothing published about you. We never speak to your family or your employer unless you ask us to. Volunteers are trained and bound to this before they ever answer a call.
We don't put the women we help, or most of our volunteers, on this website — for their safety. If you want to know who you would be talking to, ask on the call and we will tell you honestly.
We take no government money and charge no woman a rupee. Everything runs on small monthly gifts from people who live here.
Where the money went last year
71% legal fees, counselling and emergency stays · 18% the phone line · 11% travel and the room in Jayanagar. Accounts sent to every donor.
a month
Keeps the helpline open for a full day, including the Sunday calls nobody else takes.
a month — most useful
One woman's first consultation with a lawyer, and the bus fare to get her there.
a month
A safe place to sleep for a mother and her children for two weeks, at no notice.
volunteer
Lawyers, counsellors, Kannada and Tamil speakers, and women who can simply sit and listen well.
UPI ID
bujjisear@upi
Account
Bujji's Ear Trust
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Indian donors get 80G relief. Write to us and we will send the receipt and the year's accounts.
Tell one woman that we exist. Most of the people who call us heard about us from a neighbour, a maid, a colleague or a nurse — never from the internet.
We are small on purpose, so we take people slowly and train everyone before they speak to a woman. Expect a conversation, not a form letter.
One pro bono consultation a month, family and criminal law. This is our biggest shortage.
Trauma-informed, ideally in Kannada or Tamil. Sliding scale is fine — free is not required.
One evening a week, from your own home. Six weeks of training first. No professional background needed — patience and discretion are the job.
Real openings for women restarting work — housekeeping, tailoring, data entry, kitchens, care work, retail.
Sitting with a woman at a police station or court for an afternoon. Daytime availability required.
Someone will write to you within a week. If you don't hear from us, please chase — we are volunteers too, and things do get missed.
Women hear about us from a neighbour, a colleague, a nurse, a tailor, the woman who cleans the next flat. So the most useful thing you can do is put our number in front of one person who may need it — or in a place where she is alone for ten minutes.
Save the card and send it to your building group, your family group, your team. It says nothing about anybody who forwards it.
ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ · नमस्ते · வணக்கம்
Someone will listen. Whatever it is.
Free, confidential support and guidance for women in Bengaluru. You don't have to give your name.
080 4718 2200
9 AM – 9 PM DAILY · BUJJI'S EAR
RIGHT-CLICK OR LONG-PRESS TO SAVE AS AN IMAGE
Sometimes a message from a person you know works better than a poster.
If you ever want to talk to someone outside the family — about anything at all, not only a big problem — there are women in Bengaluru who do only this. Free, and they don't tell anyone. 080 4718 2200, any day between 9 and 9. Keeping the number, just in case.
Don't send it to one woman alone if her phone might be checked — send it to a group she is in, or say it out loud instead. A message like this found on her phone can make things worse for her.
A5, black on any paper. Ask a clinic, a salon, a tailor, a PG hostel, an anganwadi, a garment unit, a temple or church noticeboard, or the wall of a public toilet — women read those alone.
Is there something you can't tell anyone?
ಯಾರಿಗೂ ಹೇಳಲಾಗದ ಸಂಗತಿ ಇದೆಯೇ?
Free and confidential. Any woman, any problem. You need not give your name.
080 4718 2200
9 AM – 9 PM DAILY · BUJJI'S EAR
080 4718 2200
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She can take the number without being seen writing it down, and without the poster disappearing.
In garment units, construction sites and government hospitals, print the Kannada, Tamil or Hindi version. Ask us and we will send it.
A poster the shop owner agreed to stays up for months. One stuck up quietly comes down in a day.
Write to hello@bujjisear.org and tell us where you'll put them. We'll post you fifty printed, at no cost.
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