and went into hiding. But, they were captured by the police after a few days of intensive search. Varghese was murdered in a faked encounter. One of the leaders of the group, Kisan Thomman, was also killed in a bomb blast. Prison life After her capture, Ajitha was reported to have endured torture at the police station; she was paraded before the public and was reportedly submitted to the Third degree treatment. After the trial that ensued, Ajitha was sentenced to 9 years of solitary confinement in prison. She spent the first half of the term at the Central Jail at Trivandrum and the latter half at the Cannanore jail where her parents were also imprisoned. Ajitha used the time in prison to learn about the problems faced by women of Kerala, especially sex workers. She was released in 1977 after 8 years at the age of 27. Social career After her release from prison, Ajitha attempted to start a normal life, married Yakoob and gave birth to a baby girl. However, it was a short-lived attempt when, in 1988, a conference of women's organisations in Mumbai influenced her to return to social activism and she founded an organisation called 'Bodhana' (Awareness), based in Kozhikode (Calicut). The organisation could not carry on for long but Ajitha set up another organisation called Anweshi (the Searcher) in 1993. She was an active participant in many sensational human rights cases in Kerala. Ice cream parlour case Ice cream parlour case (1997) involved the sexual exploitation of minor girls at a local ice cream parlour in Kozhikode which offered ice cream laced with sedatives to sexually exploit them later. The scandal surfaced when five minor girls approached Ajitha who, under the aegis of Anweshi, conducted a private investigation and reported the matter to the police. They alleged that the dead bodies of two teenage girls found on the railway tracks in the city had strong connection with the case. Many known names such as that of P. K. Kunhalikutty, Kerala's Industries Minister at that time and leader of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), CPM leader T.P Dasan and some custom officials featured on the list of accused. During the trial, two of the five victims retracted their statements. Kerala High Court, in 2005, dismissed the petition and the Supreme Court dismissed the case citing lack of evidence in 2006. Amnesty International In 2016, she