Last rites for J. Vinodhini, the 23-year-old acid attack victim who died on Tuesday, will be held on Thursday in Tirukadaiyur, where she was born.
Vinodhini died after three months of hospitalisation. On November 14 last year, Suresh Kumar, a construction labourer whose advances she had rejected, threw nitric acid on her in Karaikal. Despite specialised treatment, during which time she was shifted to five different hospitals, Vinodhini succumbed to her injuries at a private hospital in the city.
Vinodhini’s paternal grandparents, aunts and uncles live in Thirukadaiyur, said her mother’s sister Nirmala Rani.
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Vinodhini, who was a B.Tech graduate, was the eldest among all her cousins, and an only child. “We occasionally visited Karaikal,” said Nirmala.
“We have become so busy these days that we don’t often get to see each other. Vinodhini had once visited us some time ago,” she recalled. “She was a quiet person and religious too. Had she not been brought to Chennai she would not have lived even this long,” Nirmala added.
Other than a handful of her extended family, there were a few visitors too. Vinodhini’s mother sometimes broke down, sobbing silently.
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Vinodhini’s uncle Ramesh and his family, as well as Nirmala Rani and her husband have accompanied Vinodhini’s family to Thirukadaiyur.
Meanwhile, a group of activists are planning to file a public interest litigation asking for Vinothini’s death to be considered in the light of the Verma Committee recommendations.
“The attack on Vinodhini took place two months before the gang rape in Delhi. However we want her case to be considered under the committee’s recommendations, retrospectively,” said V. Balasubramanian, president, Puducherry Students and Parents Welfare Association.
Mr. Balasubramanian added that several associations and organisations including the Students’ Federation of India and Democratic Youth Federation of India had also supported the move.