Trigger warning: Mention of suicide, physical abuse, rape and violence.
November 2008.
Abraham Biggs, a 19-year-old from Florida, posted a suicide note on an online forum for body-building. He switched on his webcam and what followed was a tragedy beyond words.
He overdosed on pills in front of thousands of people watching and lay down on his bed with his back to the webcam. Nobody took a step to help him, or to find out if he was dead or alive.
Many continents and time zones away, in Ahmedabad, another teenager saw this post a few hours later. Aghast at the fact that Abraham was not moving, he alerted other members that it was not a static frame and the webcam was streaming continuously.
When no one seemed bothered, this young boy, Dushyant Dubey, dug around and found Abraham’s real name, location and phone number. He promptly passed this information to other forum members who were mostly American, hoping that they would act immediately.
Nobody did anything.
A time before social media, smartphones and unlimited calling, Dushyant woke his parents up in a panic, activated international calling on his mother’s phone and called the Miami police department’s emergency line.
“While fighting tears, I tried my best to convey to them what was going on, and they kept transferring me to different people, until they connected me to someone who told me that his phone was from the Broward County in Florida, and that I should contact the Sheriff of that area,” says Dushyant.
Since his mother’s phone had run out of balance, he shared this number with the forum, urging them to make the call to the Sheriff. Thankfully, someone called the Sheriff. When Dushyant made the call — this time from his father’s phone — he was told that the police officers were on their way.
Shortly after, he watched on the live stream as cops entered and covered the camera. Few hours later, Abraham’s sister posted on the forum that he had passed away.
This incident has made its way onto a research paper about the importance of internet mediations and good samaritans where the 17-year-old from India finds mention.
What it also did is help this young boy find his purpose in life — helping others. His intrinsic goodness and splendid effort to help a stranger living in a faraway country was appreciated by people around the world, with messages pouring in.
“I never got it, I never understood why what I did deserved so much praise and commendation. I just did what anyone else should have done; what the very first person who saw that post should have done,” says Dushyant.
That incident changed the young boy completely, and turned him into a compassionate teenager for whom helping others became a mission.
Cut to 17 years later, this good samaritan, known as St Broseph or Batman of Bengaluru on Reddit, has helped over 5,000 people solve their problems, ranging from domestic violence, stalking, civic issues, theft, landlord woes and much more.
He has braved death threats, police intimidation and much more. After quitting his job as marketing manager in July 2023, he has been fully devoted to social work.
The St Broseph Foundation works on various initiatives such as women empowerment, civic and legal awareness, mental health support, student issues, legal support, career counselling as well as supporting victims of domestic violence.
The Foundation also runs safe spaces known as the St Broseph Safehouses, which are fully furnished apartments offering free accommodation and security to victims of crime who are physically at-risk.
The NGO has over 8,000 volunteers, 15 chapters, and 400 coordinators in Bengaluru, with volunteers based in Hyderabad, Pune, and Chennai as well.
Batman of Bengaluru
Growing up in Ahmedabad, the seeds of altruism were sown in Dushyant by his father. Even if he saw a punctured vehicle on the road, he would help the driver. As mentioned earlier, the fundamental shift in his thinking happened due to the tragic incident in 2008.
Dushyant started volunteering in different NGOs as a teenager, first in Ahmedabad, and then in Bengaluru, where he moved for work. He worked with different initiatives across animal welfare, domestic violence, civic issues, legal rights and more.
“I built a lot of contacts wherever I went. My father taught me a lot of practical things about the justice system as a child. I learnt how to get things done at government offices. Therefore, when I moved to Bengaluru, I was the person that everyone started coming to for possible solutions,” Dushyant shares with The Better India.
Due to his active presence on Reddit for more than a decade, he was one of the moderators of the Bengaluru subreddit. His social work continued on the ground with his work as a marketing manager at the Mahindra group.
Things took an interesting turn post the COVID-19 pandemic when offices started reopening and people returned to cities like Bengaluru. It was then that people started posting their problems on Reddit. St Broseph (his Reddit username), started helping people out.
In the late 2000s, many variations of the word Bro were used, especially on online forums, ranging from Broski, Broseph, Broseidon, Brobama, Bromance and more. Broseph referred to someone who helps out other people no matter what. His online friends started calling him that, and the rest is history.
People then started tagging him on other posts too. Inundated with direct messages, he created a thread on r/bangalore three years ago, asking people to contact him for any problems they face.
“I want to reach out to anyone reading this and tell you guys that you’re not alone in this city. I am volunteering to be the ‘contact’ or ‘backup’ for all of you for when you get into a shifty situation and want to get out of it, for when you find yourself in the middle of an unforeseen issue and don’t know who to call or what to do,” he wrote.
This thread is the most upvoted thread of all time on the subreddit. From here on, he received over 1,000 messages from people asking for his number in the next few months.
“As of today, almost 50,000 people in Bengaluru have my number, and have contacted me for something. The past three years have been quite a journey. I’m just glad that I’m able to help people out,” he shares.
Mostly, people reach out to him for cyber crimes, stalking, sexual harassment, online harassment by ex-boyfriends or stalkers, domestic violence, landlord woes.
Messiah for the masses
In the beginning, Dushyant would solve each problem himself. As the number of people reaching out increased, he set up a St Broseph’s army, with volunteers and set up an office in Bengaluru’s Indiranagar.
Hey guys! St. Broseph here. I am a Social Worker and a Redditor since 10 years. I’ve helped thousands of Redditors deal with their problems in Bengaluru and have started the St. Broseph Army, a volunteer group with 2000+ active members. Ask me anything about my journey social work, or anything else!
byu/St_Broseph inindiasocial
Explaining the process, when a person reaches out, in cases of emergency, like injury in domestic violence cases, sexual harassment, rape, they first take them to a hospital and get them immediate treatment.
“In medico legal cases, it’s very important to take the victim to the hospital and get all the tests done and ensure that no evidence is lost,” he explains.
In other cases, Dushyant or some volunteer speaks to the person to understand what transpired. They gather information and evidence to make their case strong. Once the information and facts are in, they write a police complaint.
“You have to be empathetic when talking to victims. It’s important to understand where they are coming from and be there for them,” he adds.
Appreciation post for St Broseph
byu/antisociallysocial1 inbangalore
Since Dushyant is well-versed with all the requirements of a police case, he ensures that all the facts, dates, timings, formatting, attachments and evidence are available when a victim visits the police station.
St Broseph or his volunteers compose the complaint, run it by a lawyer, and once all the checks and balances are done, they accompany the victim to the police station and ensure that an FIR is registered. They also accompany them to the court and consequent hearings.
For civic issues, they help by speaking to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials or registering complaints on the BBMP apps.
“We take the official/legal route to get things resolved,” he says.
He shares a story of an 18-year-old girl who was being held captive in her home in Hyderabad and was rescued by the city and Bengaluru chapter together.
“I posted on the Hyderabad subreddit seeking help. My father would abuse my mother and once almost hit me too. He didn’t let me continue school after Class 7. I was terrified,” she shares with The Better India.
In a covert operation, the Hyderabad volunteers rescued her and sent her on a train to Bengaluru. The North Bengaluru volunteers received her at the station and brought her to the office. She now stays at one of the safehouses and is pursuing her education through open schooling. Dushyant helped her get a bank account and ID cards (which she didn’t have). She’s even getting her driver’s licence now.
A passionate artist, she is looking forward to making a career in art. She reclaimed her freedom, thanks to kind strangers on the internet.
However, such charitable deeds come with several dangers as well. This girl’s father called the police, who visited the St Broseph office and questioned Dushyant. He faced it all and fought the case legally, ensuring justice for the girl.
In another case, he personally went to Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu to rescue a girl (23) whose family was trying to get her married against her wishes.
The next morning at 2:30am, three Tamil Nadu policemen along with Bengaluru policemen, and the girl’s parents knocked on Dushyant’s door, assaulting and abusing him.
“These monsters tried to drag Dushyant towards the main road and put him into their civilian car. They used force and ganged up on him when he resisted this blatant abuse of power. They tried dragging him into a car and god knows what would’ve happened if he were to go with them,” shared a Reddit user on r/Bangalore.
But Dushyant remains cool when you ask him about how he faces such threats. His only focus is on helping as many people as possible.
A self-funded dark knight
So far, Dushyant says that all his activities are self-funded. After quitting his job last year, he’s been running the entire operation using his savings. Registered as an NGO now, he is occasionally helped by a few individuals. He accepts that going forward, he would need external support (funding) to continue helping others.
While he funds therapy for others, how does he deal with these difficult, heavy matters on a daily basis? There is also a lot of counselling involved to ensure that the victim is comfortable. Dushyant also sponsors therapy for a lot of victims, running up bills of Rs 25,000-30,000 per month.
Dealing with such cases can get quite heavy, as you are dealing with the hopes and despair of parents who wish to get justice for their children.
“There are certain cases, certain issues like this which really shakes you to the core. When you see people almost lose their desire to live, it really weighs you down. What keeps me going is the desire to get them justice,” he says.
One such example was the case of Aditya Prabhu, a young boy who took his life due to harassment from college authorities. Dushyant was very vocal about getting justice for Aditya, for which he spent a lot of time with his parents and organised protests for Aditya in Bengaluru.
In another case of a missing doctor in Ahmedabad, Dushyant personally went there and helped the parents file a case. It took 8 months of relentless efforts for the police to actually file an FIR, says Dushyant.
Reddit is filled with appreciation posts for St Broseph, who goes above and beyond to help others, with people calling him Batman and thanking him for everything he does.
Hitesh, a student, took Dushyant’s help to find a solution for a pervert who was flashing women in the neighbourhood. He was able to register a complaint and the case is in court now.
“Broseph helped us with all the details about filing a complaint and what evidence is needed. He was instrumental in these women seeking justice. His team followed up with us and helped us in every step. We have our own Batman in Bengaluru,” says Hitesh.
Many would question, “What’s in it for him?”
“You have the right to work but never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction,” is his mantra.
He candidly accepts that while saying it is easy, there are difficult days. But knowing that this is the right path helps him.
“Social workers should forgo the thought of any personal gain from their work. This work is strictly for society, and any kind of expectations will only serve to bring it down. The moment you don’t expect anything, you’ll free yourself up to truly do everything. That’s what I go by,” he says.
His devastation at Abraham’s death made it very important for him to help anyone he could. And that’s exactly what he’s been doing. While Bengaluru is swarming with tech bros, we need more Brosephs across the country. Perhaps we should consider emulating his selfless actions.
If you wish to help him, you could donate to broseph@upi. You can also join his army by visiting the website broseph.in.
Edited by Padmashree Pande, Images Courtesy: Dushyant Dubey.
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