A Sessions court in Rohtak has sentenced three men to life imprisonment and two others to 10 years in imprisonment for an acid attack on a State-level volleyball player Ritu Saini in May 2012. The accused have also been fined Rs. 50,000 each, which would go to the victim.
Ritu was 18 years old when two motorcycle-borne men had thrown acid on her from a glass bottle while she was going for practice. Ritu had suffered serious burns on her face, arms and chest in the incident. After being treated for 90 per cent burns in several hospitals, she has been undergoing reconstructive plastic surgeries in Delhi. In 2013, the Haryana Government had also sanctioned Rs. 20 lakh for her treatment. The incident, however, forced her to drop out of school and give up her volleyball practice.
Police investigations had revealed that the two youths who had thrown acid on her – a college student Pradeep, and Neeraj – were hired by her cousin Ram Niwas Saini. While initially the police had claimed that the accused ‘liked’ her and wanted to punish her for allegedly “ditching” him, later a property dispute was said to be the motive behind the crime. The hired men were paid Rs. 25,000 in advance for the job and were promised a total sum of Rs. 1.25 lakh.
Holding all the three accused guilty of the crime, the court of Sandeep Duggal convicted them to life imprisonment. Two other accused in the case were sentenced to 10 years in imprisonment.
