Special Correspondent
Acid attack victims condemn apathy of system, want speedy justice
Bangalore: “My case set a precedent only as far as the court judgment went. It sentenced my attacker to life imprisonment and instructed the Government to help victims like me. But nothing really has changed for me beyond that,” says Haseena, who was attacked with acid by her employer in 1999 in Bangalore. She was part of a protest demonstration organised by the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attack on Women (CSAAAW) against the August 8 incident in Mysore in which 26-year-old Hina Fatima was attacked with acid by her husband.
As Hina struggles for life in a hospital in Mysore, Haseena says life for acid attack survivors is difficult because of medical complications that continue for years and the apathy of the system. Haseena has so far got a compensation of only Rs. 10,000 from the Government. “Even that money came only in 2003,” she says. Haseena adds that justice should be speeded up, pointing out that her case dragged on for seven years.
Jayalakshmi, who had acid poured on her by here husband in 2003 at Huliyar in Tumkur district, says that life has been unbearable ever since. “Sometimes I think I would have been better off dead. Something or the other keeps going wrong with my health,” she says. “It is a torture to be even watched by people as if I am a strange creature.”
Demand
The CSAAW and other organisations, including Samanatha Mahila Vedike, Pedestrian Pictures, Garments Mahila Karmikara Munnade, Sangama, Human Rights Law Network, Alternative Law Forum and Manasa, have demanded immediate action to curb the sale of acids and the announcement of a rehabilitation package for acid attack victims.
