The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Swapnika’s plea has its impact

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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Swapnika’s plea has its impact

Special Correspondent

Photo: M. Murali

TEARFUL ADIEU: Classmates of Swapnika, who succumbed to the burns sustained in the acid attack, weep inconsolably in Warangal on Wednesday.

HYDERABAD: Though acid attack victim Swapnika lost her battle for life, she, in a way has won, as her widely publicised repeated appeals to punish perpetrators of the crime moved the public resulting in a spontaneous outpour of anger.

They forced the government to take a tough stand in the case.

“I want them to be punished severely so that other girls would not have to become victims like me,” Swapnika had told every politician who went to Yashoda Hospital to console her and her family. “Had the police acted on my initial complaint, things would not have come this far,” the girl, pursuing B.Tech final year at KITS College, Warangal, had bemoaned.

Police acted late

Police did act but rather late. They eliminated Srinivas and his two accomplices in a shocking ‘encounter’ after arresting them. Though the killings did invite criticism from people that police undermined the law, the dissenting voices were drowned by the public support.

College girls, who apparently were angry with the State for its failure to check such attacks by ‘jilted lovers’, gave vent to their pent-up feelings and hailed the police action. Perpetrators of the acid attack were ‘punished’, but not before a young girl, who was on the threshold of a promising career, had to pay a heavy price.

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