Acid attack leaves woman fighting for life in Sheohar

A brutal acid attack left a young woman fighting for her life in a north Bihar hospital on Friday.

The incident, the fifth such recorded event in Bihar in the past 14 months, came just over six months after the Supreme Court directed state governments to put in place stringent measures to curb such attacks.

The acid attack victim was found in a serious condition at a public place at Mohanpur village under Piprahi police station of Sheohar district in north Bihar, early morning on Friday.

She has since been rushed to the Sri Krishna medical college hospital (SKMCH) at the neighbouring district headquarters town of Muzaffarpur, about 75 km north of state capital, Patna.

Piprahi police station house officer (SHO) R K Mandal confirmed that a woman, who had not been identified, had been found in a critical serious condition at Mohanpur.

“Out of purely humanitarian condition, we have rushed her to Muzaffarpur as saving her life was our top priority. We are in the process of instituting a case”, Mandal told HT Friday afternoon.

The Piprahi SHO claimed that an attempt had been made to kill the woman by setting her alight after pouring kerosene on her. “This was the finding at a medical facility where the police took her for first aid”, he said.

However, SKMCH superintendent Dr GK Thakur confirmed the woman was the victim of an acid attack.

“She has suffered 65% burns and is admitted to the ICU in a critical condition. She was brought here in an ambulance, has been registered as an unknown person and does not have any attendant”, he told HT.

On January 22, two men had pinned town a dalit youth, Ranjit Sada, 22, accused him of being a thief and poured acid in his eyes. The attack took place in Kishanpur police station area of Supaul in north eastern Bihar.

Earlier, in October last year, failing in their attempt to molest a woman sleeping on a Samastipur railway station platform, some miscreants threw acid on her as retribution. She was badly injured in the attack.

Also last October, acid was poured on the private parts of a minor boy accused of theft by the owner of kabadi shop in Sohrai locality of Nalanda in south central Bihar.

Before that, in December 2012, a mob poured acid in the eyes of an alleged history sheeter Munna Thakur and his nephew, at Hingna village in Araria district of north eastern Bihar. The mob had accused Thakur of terrorizing them.

Last month, the Bihar cabinet had approved the Bihar Poisons Possession and Sale Rules, 2014, in order to control storage, sale and purchase of acids used in attack on women.

But many top state official HT spoke to said they were unaware of steps, if any, taken at the ground level to check the sale of acid, in compliance with the July 18, 2013, supreme court directive.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times