WUNRN
Women's Feature Service
India - New Delhi
By Tripti Nath
New Delhi (Women's Feature Service) -
She can no longer stand in the sun, her facial skin looks a bit like plastic
and her limb movements are not yet back to normal despite repeated surgeries
for release of contractures. Two-and-a-half years after miraculously surviving
an acid attack, Delhi-based Ila, a travel professional in her early thirties,
is trying her best to come to terms with harsh reality.
Ila was outside her
Doctors at the
Although her unwavering faith in the
God gave Ila the strength to start life afresh, the irreversible bodily damage
caused by the acid still impacts her physical and emotional well-being.
"For two years, I had to take sleep-inducing medicines. Had it not been
for the sedatives, I would have died. Even now, I'm not comfortable. I have to
wear pressure garments to suppress the wounds. I can't open my mouth fully.
Exposure to a cooler or an air-conditioner stiffens my limbs. If I turn my
elbow, I have to make an effort to straighten my arm," she says.
Her eyes cloud with pain as she recalls
the days when the surgeons were desperately tried to separate her fingers by
inserting wires without anaesthesia, or the rude shock she received on seeing
her face in the mirror, after the incident. "I was totally bed-ridden for
almost six months. I have even seen my tendons and remember the time when my entire
body was stapled," she says.
Ila owes her new life to her parents,
sister and brother-in-law, who painstakingly nursed her back to health for a
year after being discharged. "When I went to their house in
But even though her family gave her
unconditional support, Ila was disappointed with the reactions of her former
employers - she now runs her own travel agency. "They turned a blind eye
to my plight and did not take me back. Everyone forgot me. I ceased to matter
to them, as I no longer had a pretty face. But this indifference only
strengthened my determination to start my own travel agency. Today I find work
therapeutic," she says.
Ila knows that she is lucky. She
survived the acid attack. But what about the culprits? Will they ever be found?
"The government should take stringent action against such attackers, as
acid scars compel a victim to live a secluded and miserable life. I'm trying
hard to get back but I often come across people who make me feel that I am
nobody. Contrary to the common perception that I would be getting business because
of sympathy, people turn me away when I approach them with my face veiled. It's
sub-human, painful and discriminatory," she says.
Expressing her unhappiness with the
government's recent move to impose service tax on cosmetic and plastic
surgeries, Ila says, "This is a setback for acid burn victims. The
government should have made a clear distinction between those who need plastic
surgery for medical reasons and those who just want a nose job done. Apart from
this, it would really help acid burn victims if the mediclaim policy were to
cover cosmetic treatment." Also, Ila is against the easy sale of acids of
all kinds in the market, despite a ban on the open sale of corrosive
substances. "By buying acid that costs nothing, people are indulging in
such barbaric acts," she says.
Talking about the cost of surgery, Dr
Ajay Kashyap, Head of the Department of Plastic Surgery at the New Delhi-based
And that's usually the reason behind
such attacks. But if one looks for a pattern or some numbers on this crime
specifically, there are none available. The National Crimes Record Bureau
(NCRB) does not have data to indicate the trend in acid burn cases. Rajiv
Mathur, Director General, NCRB, says, "The NCRB compiles data on acid
attacks under the category of sexual harassment and molestation. We have data
on sexual harassment and molestation right from 1953 to 2007. We don't have
separate figures on acid attacks. Unless we ask states and
But the All India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA) says that such cases are on the rise now. Sudha Sundaraman,
General Secretary, AIDWA, put it this way, "We are seeing cases where it
is being done for revenge to punish a woman who has not responded to the
advances of a man. Acid is easily available in our country. In most cases, the
assailants are not identified and get away. The lifelong consequences have to
be borne by the victim. There is no help from the state."
Talking about legal options that
victims have, Ashok Arora, senior criminal lawyer, says, "The State should
arrange for compensation. Right now, it does not pay for compensation. That
explains why victims don't want to wait for 10 years to get justice. In
addition to seeking relief from the criminal court or high court, the victim
can always claim damages under law of torts - civil courts. This is an option
that a victim must exercise. Hefty damages should be paid depending on the
expenditure incurred on the treatment. The court should award interim damages.
If the accused pleads he has no money or the state is not able to catch the
accused, it must pay the damages. Also these cases should be tried in a
fast-track court."
But Arora does not feel the need for a
separate legislation. "This offence is covered under the section that
deals with causing grievous hurt. The law is adequate as it prescribes seven
years rigorous imprisonment. It's a non-bailable offence. Yet, the attackers
don't get the punishment they deserve because the prosecution does not take it
with the seriousness it deserves."
Ila's family has so far spent Rs
10,00,000 (US$1=Rs 48.5) on her treatment. Her parents are old and can no
longer generate funds for her plastic surgery. That was also one of the reasons
she decided to set up her own travel agency. She hopes to not only support her
parents but also earn enough to ensure that one day surgery would give her
a chance for living a normal life.
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