Maria Juliana became an instant sensation across Tamil Nadu after she participated in the Jallikattu protests in early 2017. She emerged as a popular name to spearhead the social movement, which was reported world over. Following the Jallikattu protests, people around the state were surprised when she was announced as a contestant in the first season of the smash hit Tamil reality TV show, Bigg Boss, hosted by Kamal Haasan. Since Bigg Boss, Julie has gone on to feature in several advertisements, while also landing a few film offers. 

Having said that, Julie took to her Instagram page on Wednesday evening to share an awareness video in which she goes on to speak about the rape of a Dalit girl named Manisha Valmiki in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district, while also sharing statistics on sexual harassment and sexual assault cases around the country, including raising several key points on the ignorance of the people towards such violence around the country. The video has gone viral for it shows Julie wearing a hospital gown with severe bruises on her face, including injuries on the top of her head, her eyes and below her nose. She goes on to clarify that she is wearing makeup and has done so in order to deliver the message of the condition of rape victims. 

Julie in her video says, "I would first up like to apologize since many will be worried upon witnessing me in such a state.. But, this video has been posted only for the purpose of creating awareness. I believe this video will bring a final solution to one of the biggest problems we are all facing now. We all know about Manisha Valmiki who was gangraped - she is no more with us. When we see such horrible things happen, we talk about it four days, but stop taking it up a notch higher after that. Why is that so? If you take the case of coronavirus, we do not worry if another person is infected, but we run around if someone in our family tests positive. Around 32,000 rape cases have been registered till 2019. In this, more than 27,000 women above the age of 18 are victims. More than 4,000 sexual assault victim cases have been registered below the age of 1. These are only the registered cases we know so far."

She continues, "It is men who should step up and protect women when they are facing such an ordeal. We are not going to achieve anything by shedding tears for this issue. If we do not act now, this same fate will fall upon our own children. There is a rape incident once every sixteen minutes across the country. And, that is a registered case. When a girl comes and tells the parents that a boy is following her, don't tell her not to look at that person. Instead, go along with your daughter - only one day of your work will be gone. Will you get back your child if she is gone? You will share this video because it is me who is speaking. If it was someone else, there will be a talk about it for four days and nothing after that. Strict laws need to be enforced. If a person is laying hands on a girl without her permission, he should definitely be punished. India is shining, but women are still at the back. Those who stand up for women, I say hats off!"

Watch the full video on Julie's Instagram page below: