A 24-year-old nursery school teacher suffered severe burns in the face when a 32-year-old man threw a container of concentrated acid on her at Parraypora, on the Srinagar-Airport Road on Wednesday.
Srinagar Senior Superintendent of Police Ashiq Bukhari told The Hindu that the audacious attack on a woman occurred for the first time in the capital city in the last three years. He said two men, Riyaz Ahmed Nath and Junaid Khan alias Mudassar, both residents of Chhanpora, intercepted the teacher at the tuition hub of Parraypora. After an altercation with the woman, Riyaz Nath hurled the acid on her and the two fled the scene.
The victim was evacuated and admitted to hospital for treatment. Later the police arrested the accused and charged them with trying to outrage the modesty of the young woman and attempting to murder her in full public view.
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The main accused told the interrogators that he resorted to the extreme action as the woman was not responding to his “proposal of marriage.” Sources associated with the investigation revealed that the teacher was on her way to school, when the two men attacked her.
Doctors attending on her said one side of her face had been burnt extensively. Her left eye too was badly damaged, said a nurse.
DIG Central Kashmir Ahfadul Mujtaba said police had slapped an “attempt to murder” charge. “We’ll ensure completion of the investigation and submission of challan before a judicial magistrate on fast-track,” Mr. Mujtaba, who visited the victim in hospital, told
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Apparently with an identical motive, two teenagers had knocked down 17-year-old girl student Romana Javed with their vehicle on the same road at Baghat Barzullah in May 2009. She died on the spot. The under-trial duo is in jail.