The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A firm `no' has left them with a permanent scar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 20, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A firm `no' has left them with a permanent scar

K.V. Subramanya

The accused in all the cases were spurned by the victim

BANGALORE: A common thread runs through all acid attacks that have been reported from the city in the past few years, including the one that took place in Girinagar police station limits on Wednesday morning.

In all the cases, the accused were known to the victims and attacked them for refusing to marry them or spurning their physical advances.

But the earlier victims of acid attacks were not as lucky as Savitha, who was attacked on Wednesday. Most of them, who sustained severe burns, have turned into living dead and their families are still finding it hard to meet the medical expenses.

In the last few years, at least seven women were attacked with acid in the city. The most sensational was the attack on Haseena (22), who not only lost her sight but was also disfigured.

On April 20, 1999, Joseph Rodrigues poured acid on Haseena, who was earlier working in a computer centre owned by him, as she had refused to marry him. After a long trial, the X Additional Sessions Court sentenced Rodrigues to five years and three months of rigorous imprisonment and fined him Rs. 3 lakh.

In a similar incident in September 2002, Rajesh (17) allegedly threw acid on 16-year-old Shruti in J.P. Nagar police station limits. Rajesh, who is now in jail, was pestering Shruti to love him and she had spurned him.

Hemavathi, an employee of a refrigerator-servicing unit in Shivajinagar, was a victim of acid attack.

On March 28, 2006, a man poured acid on Hemavathi, a divorcee and mother of a seven-year-old girl, while she was coming out of a women's hostel on 3rd Cross, Jayamahal. A man, whom she had refused to marry, was later arrested for the attack.

In May 2004 Jacqueline Asha (27), a beautician, was returning home from her beauty parlour in R.T. Nagar. An acquaintance, Sanjeev, accosted her on Sumangali Sevashram Road in Hebbal police station limits and splashed acid on her for refusing to marry him.

In November 2001, a young woman, who was working as a singer at a live band joint, refused to go with a customer. While she was returning home from work, he poured acid on her in HAL police station limits.

A few years ago, Noorjahan, mother of three, was soaked in a container filled with acid for spurning the advances of the owner of a chemical factory, off Kanakapura Road, from where she used to fetch water for her canteen.

After the attack on Shruti, the then Commissioner of Police H.T. Sangliana had passed orders banning the sale of acids to youth.

His successor M.D. Singh had strictly warned those selling acids to refrain from supplying them to youth without ascertaining their identity.

The police say that there are many sources from which one can procure acids and mere restriction on the sale of acid would not help in curbing the menace.

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Karnataka