
13/07/2022
Born to parents who decided their daughter would only be recognised as an 'Indian' in her birth and school certificates, MA Sneha Parthibaraja (a lawyer from Vellore) had to fight for nine years for a certificate giving her an identity, without caste and religion.
This upbringing wasn’t just limited to her, her younger sisters Mumtaj Suriya and Jennifer were also given names that belonged to different faiths.
Sneha explained in an interview that this upbringing wasn’t without challenges and taunts, their family would often get asked how they would get the girls married off and how they would avail reservation benefits.
But the three sisters have persevered in following their parents' footsteps.
In fact, as opposed to the practice of using the first letter of the father’s name as one’s initial, Sneha carries the first letters of her mother’s and father’s names respectively. Hence she is M A Sneha