Fourth Acid Attack On Rape Survivor, Just Few Steps Away From Guard

Mangalore Today News Network

Lucknow, July 03, 2017:  A 35-year-old gang-rape survivor in Uttar Pradesh - given 24-hour police protection after multiple acid attacks over the past few years - was allegedly attacked for the fourth time at her hostel in Lucknow on Saturday evening. The incident allegedly took place just a few steps from an armed guard posted at the hostel for the woman’s protection.

The woman has said that she was attacked with acid when she had just left the hostel to fetch water from a hand-pump, between 8 and 9 pm on Sunday. The acid burnt her face, according to the police. She is being treated at the trauma centre in the city’s King George’s Medical University.

UP Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who is in charge of women’s welfare, said, "We have given (the woman) a lot of protection, there is a guard, a vehicle, we have facilitated her employment. The guard’s room was 20 to 25 steps away from the spot where the incident took place."

The woman works at a cafe managed by acid attack survivors. The police said a complaint has not been registered as her family hasn’t filed one yet.

In March this year, two men attacked her and poured acid down her throat on a train while she was returning to Lucknow from her village in Rae Bareli. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had visited her in hospital and given her compensation. Hours later, the two accused named by the woman were arrested.

Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh have targeted the Yogi Adityanath government after Saturday’s attack. "The law and order has completed broken down in UP. Every day there are instances of harassment, rapes, murders, and exploitation," said Juhi Singh of Samajwadi Party, which lost power in the state earlier this year.

The attacks on the mother of two, however, began way back in 2008, a year after she was allegedly gang-raped in her village and two men were arrested. She was attacked with acid in 2011, 2013 and then earlier this year. The woman and her family allege that the rape accused are behind the acid attacks.


Courtesy: NDTV