November 2008.

Abraham Biggs, a 19-year-old from Florida, posted a suicide observe on a web-based discussion board for body-building. He switched on his webcam and what adopted was a tragedy past phrases.

He overdosed on drugs in entrance of hundreds of individuals watching and lay down on his mattress along with his again to the webcam. No one 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 put up a couple 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 constantly.

When nobody appeared bothered, this younger boy, Dushyant Dubey, dug round and located Abraham’s actual identify, location and telephone quantity. He promptly handed this info to different discussion board members who have been principally American, hoping that they’d act instantly.

No one 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 telephone and known as the Miami police division’s emergency line.  

“Whereas combating tears, I attempted my greatest to convey to them what was happening, and so they saved transferring me to completely different individuals, till they related me to somebody who instructed me that his telephone was from the Broward County in Florida, and that I ought to contact the Sheriff of that space,” says Dushyant.

Since his mom’s telephone 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 telephone — he was instructed that the cops have been on their method.

Shortly after, he watched on the reside stream as cops entered and lined the digital camera. Few hours later, Abraham’s sister posted on the discussion board that he had handed away.

This incident has made its method 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 objective in life — serving to others. His intrinsic goodness and splendid effort to assist a stranger residing in a faraway nation was appreciated by individuals world wide, with messages pouring in.  

“I by no means received 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 carried out; what the very first one who noticed that put up ought to have carried out,” says Dushyant. 

That incident modified the younger boy utterly, and turned him right into a compassionate teenager for whom serving to others turned a mission.

Reduce to 17 years later, this good samaritan, referred to 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 far more. 

He has braved dying threats, police intimidation and far more. After quitting his job as advertising supervisor in July 2023, he has been totally dedicated to social work. 

The St Broseph Basis works on numerous initiatives akin to girls empowerment, civic and authorized consciousness, psychological well being assist, pupil points, authorized assist, profession counselling in addition to supporting victims of home violence. 

The Basis additionally runs secure areas referred to as the St Broseph Safehouses, that are totally 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 primarily based in Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai as nicely. 

Batman of Bengaluru

Rising up in Ahmedabad, the seeds of altruism have been sown in Dushyant by his father. Even when he noticed a punctured car on the highway, he would assist the motive force. As talked about earlier, the elemental shift in his pondering occurred as a result of tragic incident in 2008. 

Dushyant began volunteering in several NGOs as a teen, first in Ahmedabad, after which in Bengaluru, the place he moved for work. He labored with completely different initiatives throughout animal welfare, home violence, civic points, authorized rights and extra. 

“I constructed a variety of contacts wherever I went. My father taught me a variety of sensible issues in regards to the justice system as a baby. I learnt the best way to get issues carried out at authorities places of work. Subsequently, once I moved to Bengaluru, I used to be the individual that everybody began coming to for potential options,” Dushyant shares with The Higher India.

As a consequence of 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 attention-grabbing flip put up the COVID-19 pandemic when places of work began reopening and other people returned to cities like Bengaluru. It was then that individuals 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 have 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 mates began calling him that, and the remainder is historical past.

Folks 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 need to attain out to anybody studying this and let you know guys that you just’re not alone on this metropolis. I’m volunteering to be the ‘contact’ or ‘backup’ for all of you for while you get right into a shifty state of affairs and need to get out of it, for when you end up in the course of an unexpected difficulty and do not 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 obtained over 1,000 messages from individuals asking for his quantity within the subsequent few months. 

“As of in the present day, 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 will 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 downside 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 hundreds of Redditors take care of 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 the rest!
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 speedy remedy. 

“In medico authorized circumstances, it’s essential to take the sufferer to the hospital and get all of the exams carried out and make 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 info and proof to make their case robust. As soon as the data and details are in, they write a police grievance.

“You must be empathetic when speaking to victims. It’s essential to grasp the place they’re coming from and be there for them,” he provides.

Appreciation put up 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 details, 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 carried out, they accompany the sufferer to the police station and make 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 house in Hyderabad and was rescued by town and Bengaluru chapter collectively. 

“I posted on the Hyderabad subreddit searching for assist. My father would abuse my mom and as soon as nearly hit me too. He didn’t let me proceed faculty 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 obtained her on the station and introduced her to the workplace. She now stays at one of many safehouses and is pursuing her training by way of 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 wanting ahead to creating a profession in artwork. She reclaimed her freedom, due to sort strangers on the web. 

Nevertheless, such charitable deeds include a number of risks as nicely. 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, making certain justice for the lady.

In one other case, he personally went to Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu to rescue a woman (23) whose household was making an attempt to get her married in opposition to 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 tug Dushyant in the direction of the primary highway and put him into their civilian automotive. They used power and ganged up on him when he resisted this blatant abuse of energy. They tried dragging him right into a automotive and god is aware of what would’ve occurred if he have been to go together with them,” shared a Reddit person on r/Bangalore.

However Dushyant stays cool while you ask him about how he faces such threats. His solely focus is on serving to as many individuals as potential.  

A self-funded darkish knight

To this point, Dushyant says that every one his actions are self-funded. After quitting his job final 12 months, he’s been operating the complete operation utilizing his financial savings. Registered as an NGO now, he’s often helped by a couple 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 take care of these tough, heavy issues on a  day by day foundation? There’s additionally a variety of counselling concerned to make sure that the sufferer is snug. Dushyant additionally sponsors remedy for lots of victims, operating up payments of Rs 25,000-30,000 per thirty days. 

Coping with such circumstances can get fairly heavy, as you’re coping with the hopes and despair of oldsters who want to get justice for his or her kids. 

“There are specific circumstances, sure points like this which actually shakes you to the core. Whenever you see individuals nearly lose their need to reside, 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 as a consequence of harassment from school authorities. Dushyant was very vocal about getting justice for Aditya, for which he spent a variety of 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 full of 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 pupil, took Dushyant’s assist to discover a answer for a pervert who was flashing girls within the neighbourhood. He was capable of register a grievance and the case is in courtroom now.

“Broseph helped us with all the small print about submitting a grievance and what proof is required. He was instrumental in these girls searching for justice. His crew adopted up with us and helped us in each step. Now we have our personal Batman in Bengaluru,” says Hitesh.

Many would query, “What’s in it for him?” 

“You have got the suitable 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 suitable path helps him. 

“Social employees ought to forgo the considered any private acquire from their work. This work is strictly for society, and any sort of expectations will solely serve to convey it down. The second you do not anticipate something, you will free your self as much as really do the whole lot. That is what I am going by,” he says.

His devastation at Abraham’s dying made it essential for him to assist anybody he might. And that’s precisely what he’s been doing. Whereas Bengaluru is swarming with tech bros, we want extra Brosephs throughout the nation. Maybe we should always contemplate emulating his selfless actions. 

When you want to assist him, you possibly can donate to broseph@upi. You too can be a part of his military by visiting the web site broseph.in.

Edited by Padmashree Pande, Photographs Courtesy: Dushyant Dubey.