ABOUT
About Aneeta Prem
Aneeta Prem MBE is a British author and human-rights campaigner of Indian heritage. She is a magistrate and charity leader working across safeguarding, education, public service and patient voice.
She co-founded Freedom Charity with Lord Toby Harris in 2009 and is Chief Executive of Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK. Her public life has been shaped by an insistence that abuse should never be excused, pain should never be dismissed and silence should never be mistaken for consent.
From Bethnal Green to Himachal Pradesh
Aneeta was born and raised in Bethnal Green, within the sound of London’s Bow Bells. Her family came from Himachal Pradesh in northern India, and her childhood connected the East End of London with the language, landscape and traditions of the Himalayan foothills.
Her father, Chandra Shekhar Prem, was an author, poet and educator. He believed that education could change not only an individual life but the future of a community. Aneeta’s mother, Savita Prem, provided the constancy, determination and care that held family life together.
EDUCATION AS FREEDOM
A belief made practical
In 2000, Aneeta worked with her father to design and develop Republic College in Himachal Pradesh. The college was created to help girls continue their education beyond sixteen in a safe environment.
The project gave practical form to an idea that has remained central to Aneeta’s work: education is not simply the transfer of knowledge. It gives people language, confidence, choices and a greater chance of living without dependence or fear.
Law, discipline and public service
Before her national campaigning work, Aneeta became a qualified Black Belt karate instructor. Teaching martial arts reinforced her belief that confidence, discipline and practical skills can change how girls and young women understand their own strength.
Aneeta was appointed as a magistrate in 2002 and has served in adult, youth and family courts in London. She has also contributed to the recruitment, training and mentoring of magistrates.
As a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, she worked within public oversight at a time when policing, confidence and the treatment of vulnerable people demanded sharper scrutiny.
FREEDOM CHARITY
Turning recognition into protection
Aneeta co-founded Freedom Charity with Lord Toby Harris in 2009. The charity’s work has combined education, public campaigning, professional awareness and routes to practical help on forced marriage, FGM and dishonour abuse.
Through Freedom Charity, Aneeta campaigned for forced marriage to become a criminal offence, gave evidence to Parliament in 2013 and was part of the #Freedom2Choose campaign when the law changed in 2014. Her later campaigning has also addressed child marriage, virginity testing and hymenoplasty.
Freedom Charity introduced and campaigns for the term Dishonour Abuse. Aneeta uses it because the dishonour belongs to the person causing harm, never to the child, victim or survivor. In official legal contexts, the term honour-based abuse is retained where precision requires it.
Explore human rights and safeguardingHonour-based abuse / Dishonour AbuseFGM safeguarding and preventionForced marriage law and safeguardingBilateral trigeminal neuralgia and patient voiceWriting for protection
Aneeta wrote But It’s Not Fair and Cut Flowers to make difficult safeguarding subjects understandable without placing the burden of disclosure on a child. The stories allow a reader to recognise pressure, secrecy and risk through fictional characters before having to speak about their own life.
The books are accompanied by educational material intended to support safe, responsible classroom discussion.
Discover the booksLiving with trigeminal neuralgia
Aneeta’s first severe facial-pain attacks began in September 2009. The condition went unrecognised for years. She was eventually diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia and later underwent microvascular decompression surgery. The operation did not bring the lasting relief she had hoped for, and she continues to live with bilateral TN.
As Chief Executive of Trigeminal Neuralgia Association UK, Aneeta brings together organisational leadership and the knowledge of somebody who understands the condition from inside it. Her work focuses on practical support, earlier diagnosis, patient evidence, professional education and the human consequences of severe facial pain.
Read about Aneeta’s TN workRecognition and public record
Aneeta was appointed MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours for charitable service and received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of Winchester.
Her current public roles include trustee of The Neurological Alliance and co-chair of Learn About Britain.
IN ANEETA’S WORDS
I have worked in different worlds, but I have never believed they were separate. Whether a child is silenced by coercion or a patient is silenced by pain, the first duty is to listen, and then to act.