Acid attacks are a globally embarrassing statistic, sitting pretty on weak laws and weaker rehab programmes, a fact the latest victims — four sisters from Kandhala in Shamli — will soon realise. Though the culprit, their brother-in-law, has since been arrested by alert cops, INN visited their home to take stock, tells you that their road to recovery is lonely and long.
It is an urban village which boasts of a close-knit Muslim society. Elders tell you that, in their living memory, there has not been a single eve-teasing case here. In fact, the non-descript Kandhala in Shamli district of West Uttar Pradesh, has never made any kind of news — till April 2, 2013, when four sisters became victims of a vicious acid attack, a crime that is considered heinous globally but sits pretty on weak laws and easy and cheap availability of acid in the market.
The cops tell you how bemused they were when Kandhala recorded its first ever acid-throwing incident in which the family had no clue whatsoever about who could be behind such a dastardly attack. It took them a week to get to the culprit and it turned out to be the son-in-law of the family, Babar Akhtar.
It was Babar’s strident behaviour that put him under suspicion. Not only this correspondent who went calling, but also the cops and the NGO activists wanting to help out the victims were unceremoniously turned away by him. “I will call you if we need help,” was his refrain.
The cops put his mobile phone on surveillance and tracked down persistent calls he was making to the two culprits. “We arrested him after his phone records confirmed that he had paid Rs 40,000 for the attack on the sisters,” the investigating officer said. Babar has since confessed to the crime and revealed to the cops that he hired goons for the acid attack because he was having an affair with his younger sister-in-law Isha and could not tolerate her dalliances with other men. Babar is married to Saba and lives with her in Ghaziabad where he works as a lab assistant.
Isha is the worst hit and is being treated at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in the Capital. “When she was brought here, there was no blood circulation in her cornea and it was melting too because of the acid. She has no vision in her left eye. It will be too early to comment if she will get her vision back but she is responding to the treatment. There is no surgery needed, just intense medication will do,” Dr AK Grover, chairman of the ophthalmology department and her attending physician, says.
The Kandhala case may have been worked out, but the victims are marked for life. The scars, as their mother Noorjehan says, will never go away. The frail woman has been bedridden ever since the attack burnt four of her nine daughters while they were on their way back from a school where they had been invigilating an examination.
Isha (26) is battling to save her left eye at the hospital and the others, Kamarjahan (29), Sonam (27) and Aisha (24) have burns on their face, neck and hands.
“We are a simple family. All of us are educated and have no conflict with anybody in the village. We still can’t believe what has happened,” Anjum, the eldest of nine sisters, tells you. Anjum’s husband works in Mangalore but she has been living in Kandhala with her two children after her father died of a heart attack six years ago.
One stroll down the narrow lanes of this haphazard, concrete settlement and you understand why the cops took time to finally get to the culprits. After all, the victims’ family had no strife with anyone, no enemies whatsoever and no reason to believe that their daughters would be attacked without any provocation.
In a narrow lane, their house looks like any middle class family’s living abode. An artificial flower vase adorns a table, soft toys peer down at you from the ledges, there are some medals dangling from the wall as also photographs of children receiving prizes.
All is quiet here, except for the aggressive Babar who is angry about the media reaching the house. “Just leave us alone, we have got enough publicity and we are not looking for more. It’s our problem and we will manage on our own,” Babar says when asked if he doubted anyone. “Can’t you see? We are in trouble. What do you want? We have told you everything we had to,” he says. He doesn’t let any of the victims come out of that two-bedroom house to interact with the media.
Isha knew it was him and also knew why the attack happened but she had no choice but to stay tight-lipped, not saying much from her Bed No 53 of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital’s general ward on the subject of her alleged illicit affair with her sister’s husband.
“As soon as we came to know about the case, we rushed to meet the family but we were greeted by this man Babar, who introduced himself as girls’ jija and didn’t let us meet them,” Alok Dixit, director and founder of the Stop Acid Attacks NGO, tells you. “He would never reply to our calls and even if he picked up, he would bluntly ask us to stay away,” he adds.
The incident took place on April 2, around 6pm when two men, faces covered, sprayed battery acid on the four sisters with a sprinkler. “Kamarjahan and I fell down and Sonam and Aisha ran after the bikers but they sped away,” Isha recalls. Her left eye is seriously injured with scant chances of a full vision return. There are burns on her arms and neck too.
The family has nine sisters, a brother and mother Noorjehan. Their father Salim died of a cardiac arrest six years ago and four sisters earn a living by giving private tuitions at Shamli. Out of nine, four are married. The brother studies at an institute in Ghaziabad and lives with Babar and Saba.
The last 10 days had been tough for the family. “As if the pain we are going through is not enough, people are saying all kinds of things about us. Nobody came forward to help us. I asked Aisha to stay with the sisters and I ran after them but they sped away,” says Sonam, who is suffering from cervical pain which has worsened after the attack. The victims then took a rickshaw and went to see the doctor who referred Isha to Delhi and Kamarjahan to Muzzafarnagar for further treatment.
Acid attacks, activists insist, are worse than murder, even rape. “Rape victims can still start life afresh but an acid attack disfigures the victim’s face and destroys vision in most cases which makes it impossible to stitch life back,” lawyer Kamlesh Jain says. Jain recently filed an appeal in Delhi High Court on behalf of her acid survivor client Anu Mukherjee, demanding enhancement of punishment and compensation.
Activists also tell you that acid attacks are a globally embarrassing statistic though few are really concerned. According to Acid Survivors Trust International, a body active in steering legislation in various countries to deal with this menace, an acid attack rarely kills but causes severe physical, psychological and social scarring. Victims are often left with no legal recourse, limited access to medical or psychological assistance and no means to support themselves. Acid violence is a worldwide phenomenon that is not restricted to a particular race, religion or geographical location, targeting mainly women and children.
In India, the new law against acid attacks has barely come in, promising a 10-year sentence. Here, the main causes of acid attacks are rebuffed marriage proposals, spurned sexual advances/ indecent proposals and sometimes dowry demands. Other causes range from family dispute, domestic violence, relationship conflict, land or money conflicts, business conflicts and jealously.
In Bangladesh, acid attacks were a rampaging menace till a stiff law in 2002 curbed it by 20 per cent. In India, however, till recently, there was no separate law dealing with acid attacks and culprits were punished under Section 326 of the IPC. “Now, the Criminal amendment Ordinance 2013, on Justice Verma committee recommendations, can get the culprit a minimum sentence of 10 years and the victim a maximum compensation of Rs 10 lakh,” Jain tells you.
However, “in most cases, the compensation amount comes after a very long time. Immediate treatment should be provided to the victim like it is provided under the Motor Vehicles’ Act. Recently, the Supreme Court adopted conjoined twins from Bihar and decided to give then Rs 5,000 a month till their separation surgery was done. Same kind of privileges should be accorded to acid attack victims,” she says.
Most activists are not too happy with the new law. “We are happy that punishment is harsher but there is no provision to provide aid to the victims. Most of them hail from poor families and it becomes very difficult for them to get treatment,” Dr Subhash Chakraborty, executive director of the Acid Survivors Foundation in India, says.
He adds that apart from surgeries and skin grafting, victims should also be provided with a sound psychological and legal advice. “It’s not the scar only on the body but also on the mind. Rehabilitation is crucial and should be free of cost,” he says. He suggests that victims should be categorised as handicapped and get a job quota.
“It is quite feasible as the number of acid attack victims is not in thousands but still in hundreds,” he says. “Legal aid, too, should be free as most victims can’t afford a lawyer’s fee,” he tells you.
Protection to the family is another issue that is hard to come by. “In some cases, the culprits try to harm the victims and their families. In Sonali Mukherjee’s case, for instance, the family had to leave Dhanbad and relocate to Ranchi because of this and the social stigma they faced,” Chakraborty points out.
The easy availability of acid in the market, that too at very cheap rates, makes this crime easier. Citing the example of Bangladesh, Chakraborty says: “In 2001, the number of acid attack victims in Bangladesh was 750 but after a stringent law was passed in 2002, the number came down to 150 and now it is below hundred a year. If Bangladesh can do it, why can’t we,” he questions.
Anu, who was a bar dancer at hotel Rajdoot Delhi, was attacked in 2004 by a jealous co-dancer and friend Meena Khan ‘Simran’. She has no vision now and there are two holes instead of eyes on her face.
“After spending five years in jail with her brother, Meena is free but look what she has done to me,” Anu says. “I have gone through eight surgeries till now and doctors say many more are needed. I have spent all my savings, around Rs 15 lakh, on those surgeries and I have received only Rs 1.4 lakh in compensation,” she says.
“Everybody was a friend when I was beautiful, now people don’t even want to see me. Politicians make false promises but nothing comes my way,” she says. Anu, who lost her parents at a very young age, lives with her younger brother who had to discontinue his studies after she was attacked. “I wanted him to study and make it big in life so that we both could live a comfortable live. Now, there’s nothing left,” she says.
Chanchal Paswan, like many other attack victims, shares the same story. Her case is pending in court and she recently went through an eye surgery at AIIMS with more on way. “Doctors say the treatment will be life-long but where are the funds for that? People come, take my photograph, promise me funds and never return,” she says.
Stories are many but the woes same. Perhaps, the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance 2013 will turn out to be the first concrete step in the right direction to help out acid attack victims. Some states, like Goa and Uttar Pradesh, have taken the lead in facilitating speedy and adequate compensation for survivors. However, the Kandhala sisters are yet to get any — either from the Government or from the NGOs. Another issue though for Isha, who has lost one eye to the attack, is that the rehab will take much more than just money.
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