India: 4-Time Acid Attack Survivor Targeted Again, Despite Police Protection

By teleSUR

03 July 17

The majority of the time, women are attacked by people they know.

35-year-old woman who survived a gang rape in India's northern city of Uttar Pradesh and has survived acid attacks four times before was again targeted with the corrosive chemical for the fifth time Sunday, the Guardian reported.

According to the local police report, she was at a women’s hostel in Uttar Pradesh state capital Lucknow when a man climbed up the wall and poured the chemical over her. “She was filling water at the hand pump when the attack took place. The attacker fled from the spot,” Vivek Tripathi, the local police chief, told the Guardian.

The woman, who has a history of acid violence, was provided with around the clock police protection, but since police were barred from entering the women's hostel, the attacker took advantage of the situation.

There has been a stark rise in acid violence cases reported, from 83 in 2011 to 349 in 2015. According to the legal aid nonprofit Human Rights Law Network, the numbers are way lower than the actual number of acid attack cases. The HRLN estimates there are at least 1000 attacks each year.

In 2013, India's top court ruled that acid shouldn't be sold to anyone under the age of 18, the offense was also made non-bailable, and the penalty for throwing acid on a person was raised to 10 years of prison time, the sale of over-the-counter acid was also limited. Also, as part of their rehabilitation, the victims of acid attacks are compensated with at least US$5,000.

But despite these regulations, sales of certain acids, including cleaning agents, remain widely available. Deeply seated in patriarchy, acid attacks are a form of gender-based violence and plague many countries in South Asia, like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The supreme court has also directed all public and private hospitals to provide first aid treatment free of cost to the survivors, according to the Wire.

A majority of the times, women are attacked by people they know. Boyfriends, husbands or employers faced with any form of rejection target women using easily available and cheap chemicals.

Acid attack survivors have a hard time finding new jobs. In 2014, Stop Acid Attacks, a nonprofit dedicated to rehabilitating acid attack survivors, opened a small cafe, Sheroes Hangout, in the north Indian city of Agra.

Alok Dixit, founder of the campaign, told the Hindu, “We started an online campaign to bring together survivors of acid attacks, and more and more of them joined us. Most survivors are in the age group of 16 to 28 and are dependent on their families.”

The cafe, run by women acid attack survivors, provides its customers with educational materials on acid violence along with an opportunity to interact and know the issues faced by the survivors first hand.

“An acid attack is not just about losing face, but also the life that had so far been ours,” Neetu, an acid attack survivor who works at Sheroes Hangout told Asia Times. “Even after we suffer burns, we are blamed. Depression sometimes drives the victims to suicide. Our mission is to rise above all and prove that we can still live.”

“I have realized that I should not be ashamed to face the world – (that it) should be the person who did it. I have lost my face, my soul is stronger than ever," Neetu added.

The cafe doesn't have prices listed on their menu instead requests customers to pay what they deem fit. Sheroes Hangout has now opened in the cities of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Four years ago, in a fit of jealous rage, when Rani's ex-husband, Manish tried to pour acid over his ex- wife and her new husband over her remarriage, Julie, a 7-year-old girl, was caught in the crossfire as she was sleeping next to her mother. Julie's skin on the right side of her face along with her neck melted.

Chhanv Foundation, the non-profit behind Sheroes Hangout has been trying to raise enough funds to help Julie's family. Julie will soon get her first surgery free of cost from an Indian institute.

A new disability law was also introduced in April that broadens the definition of physical disability to include survivors of acid attacks.