Anoushka Shankar says she was sexually abused as a child

In a video to support a global campaign to end violence against women - One Billion Rising - the 31-year-old sitarist said she had been abused by "a man my parents trusted".

Anoushka Shankar, daughter of legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar, has thrown her weight behind an online campaign demanding an end to crime against women, in the wake of the Delhi gangrape.

The 31-year-old sitarist has invited one billion women and those who love them, via the website Change.org, to walk out, "Dance, rise up, and demand" an end to this violence this Valentine's Day, February 14.

"The campaign 'One Billion Rising' is a promise that we will rise up with women and men worldwide to say, 'Enough! The violence ends now'," the website said. It also contains a video of Anoushka speaking out for women who have been victims of abuse and asking people to join the campaign.

In a video to support a global campaign to end violence against women - One Billion Rising - the 31-year-old sitarist said she had been abused by "a man my parents trusted". File Pic

"As a child I suffered sexual and emotional abuse for several years at the hands of a man my parents trusted implicitly. Growing up, like most women I know, I suffered various forms of groping, touching, verbal abuse and other things I didn't know how to deal with, I didn't know I could change," said the Indian composer, now living in London.

She added that she was taking part in the One Billion Rising movement "for the child in me who I don't think will recover from what happened".

"As a woman I find I am frequently living in fear. Afraid to walk alone at night, afraid to answer a man who asks for the time... and enough is enough. I am rising, for (the Delhi rape victim) and women like her. I am rising with the amazing women of my country. I am rising for the child in me, who I don't think will ever forgive and recover from what happened to her.

"So, join me, let's rise, let's dance. Dance has the power to heal, to transform. So let's transform ourselves and this world. Let's rise together," she added.

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