Upender Kumar flinches when his mother draws the curtain near his bed. He averts his eyes from the harsh mid-afternoon light that comes streaming in and rests his back to the window facing the other way. After a while, the 11-year-old himself suggests the tube light above his hospital bed be turned on to facilitate a better photograph of him and his family.
For 14 days now Upender has had difficulty in seeing after he was accosted by a friend’s older brother who threw the liquid content in a plastic bottle onto his face.
The first information report filed eight days after the incident states that the bottle contained acid, which the doctors at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital where Upender has been admitted say has “badly injured both eyes”. The boy has to be administered eye drops every few hours to ward of any infection.
A Supreme Court order of July 2013 explicitly states that “acid will not be sold to anyone below the age of 18”. Upender’s parents say the age of the accused is 17.
Upender has known the accused’s younger brother Firoz for many months now. The two play “bat-ball” together on the grounds attached to a local dispensary in Karawal Nagar. Upender’s father Rajbir Singh says his son plays cricket with boys much taller than him. “He is very passionate about the game and stays out late playing with friends.”
His parents have warned him against playing with Firoz only once or twice since it keeps Upender away from his studies, yet, Mr. Singh admits that Firoz’s family has been around to their house a few times asking that the boys don’t play with each other. It was this that angered Firoz’s brother on June 20 when he spotted Upender hanging around with his young brother despite several warnings.
Sitting cross-legged on his hospital bed with his younger brother Abhishek listening in on every word, Upender softly revealed why the accused had a problem with him. “Firoz used to smoke beedis and he used to tell his family that I made him do it,” he said. “The accused had warned me against playing with his brother several times and said I will pay for it dearly if I continued. He even beat me up a few times…”
Half an hour into the conversation, Upender alleged that Firoz also drank, yet, claimed that he himself had never consumed anything. “We keep a check on our son. I always make sure I check if he smells of alcohol or cigarettes when he comes home,” his mother Rajrani interrupts. Mr. Singh is self-employed and makes grinding stone for dental surgeries and has not been able to afford machinery for the same. He is a father of five children, Upender is fourth in line.
His oldest daughter Bharti is married, his second-born Nitin is a school-drop out and is learning a trade in Ghaziabad and he wants to make sure his three youngest children remain in school and make something of their lives.
“We just do not have the money for giving Upender the best medical facilities. Somebody suggested I meet Dr. Harsh Vardhan and request him to help us,” said Mr. Singh, who admitted to not knowing about the Supreme Court-mandated compensation of Rs.3 lakh owed to acid attack victims by the State Government.
For now, he spends his time cheering up his son. “Upender loves to dance at home. He kept pestering us to send him to dance classes. He likes the way Hrithik Roshan dances especially in that movie where that creature comes from somewhere…,” he trailed off looking searchingly at his son. “It is that movie which has an alien,” said Upender, softly.
