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Women's Feature Service

India - New Delhi

 

India - Acid Attack Trauma: Woman Victim's Story

 

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 Rajendra Place office when she was attacked by unidentified persons. She felt her skin burning and even before she could figure out what had happened, she saw her clothes gradually being eaten away. She screamed for help but most passers by chose to look the other way. Much later someone rushed her to Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where she was given first aid and then referred to another hospital, as the hospital did not have a burns unit. In all this, the golden hour was lost and by then avoidable damage had been done.

 

Doctors at the Sunderlal Jain Hospital in North Delhi, where she underwent treatment, had almost given up hope of her survival. They gave her parents an uncertain 72 hours to prepare themselves to accept the worst. But their prayers were answered and Ila survived after slipping out of a month-long coma.

 

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 South Delhi, I was bandaged from head to toe. They made me feel at home and took me for regular physiotherapy sessions. They also arranged for a round-the-clock nurse," she says.

 

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 Fortis Hospital, who operated on Ila last winter, says that the expenses can run into several lakhs. "The government should help out with the cost and doctors and hospitals should be compassionate and reduce the cost. On an average, I see six to eight patients a month but the severity of facial disfigurement is very bad. Ila is luckier than many other victims are. I'm treating a young lady from Jharkhand whose face is completely melted. This attack came from a person who wanted her affection," he reveals.

 

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 Union Territories to give specific data on acid burn cases, we will not be able to comment on the trend."

 

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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