Acid attacks – by the devils from hell

Today was just like any other Sundays “late to bed and late to wake up makes a Sunday worth living”.  While skimming through the newspapers an article about an acid attack victim caught my attention. Just like most of us do I paused for a moment and then continued my reading. But the image lingered on my mind throughout the day. The eyes were saying something to me. Did it complain or were there any tears in it? By evening I was quite busy into my technical research but then again the image resurfaced. It created enough ripples in my mind. I googled and the images I found shocked even my soul. I was shocked, such a heinous crime by a human being on another?

BANGLADESH. Dhaka. June 2005.Nobisa Begam. 15 Years old. Photographed three days after acid was thrown in her face for refusing a marriage proposal..(Courtesy bop.nppa.org)

What should I call these acts of violence? The perpetrators of this violence are they human or devil himself in human form? It is one of the most violent crimes against women. It is not only an act against her dignity, self respect, independence but also against the fundamental principle of humanity on which our civilized society is standing. It is a trauma that these hapless victims have to undergo everyday of their life. Everyday when they look into mirror (those who are still lucky to have their eyes after the attack many were not so luck) the pain they have undergone, the humiliation they have suffered re-surfaces.

Most of the attacks are by husbands or the people known to the victims with a major share from the so called “lovers”. I couldn’t understand how could people throw acid when a woman refuses their proposal? They say they loved and how could someone hurt some body so much? This is not committed in a fit of passion. A lot of planning is required for it. Guys if this has crossed your mind then remember it’s not worth. Love is not about taking by violence it is sacrifice of what you have. Love demands patience and sacrifice and not violence. If you have truly loved someone you will happily give your life for a single smile of your loved ones. Yow will never think about harming in any way. So if you have thought in any other fashion then you can be sure that you never loved. Even the most pure and polite approach might lead to failure but then it shouldn’t drive yourself to this crime against humanity. Pause and look around and see how many smiles, how many hopes you will kill with your action. You may be provoked to your limits but remember life has a lot of things to offer.

Angura. 30 years old, lies with her son and mother on the floor of her ward in the hospital run by the Acid Survivors Foundation in Dhaka. Her husband and another man threw acid on her and then burnt her eyes with a blowtorch after she refused her husband permission to take another woman into their home.(Courtesy bop.nppa.org)

In some places it is used as a too, to suppress women, to curtail their independence. There were reports of acid attacks on girl student in Afghanistan by the Taliban and its allies. They were against the women education and hence these attacks. Elsewhere in places like Kashmir acids were thrown on women who refused to wear the burkha. There were attacks on women by the jealous employer.  In some part of the India acid attack was used to strengthen the evil clutches of casteism.

Such news is always sensational which our media are ever ready to feed on. But after this sensation do we ever think how these people go about their life. The may get big promises of compensation and sympathy but are they fulfilled? Even if sufficient compensation is given how can we compensate the pain, the agony, the shame, the humiliation they have undergone?

How can we prevent this? We cannot stop the supply of acids. This is freely available in markets which even a child can buy for a paltry amount. The need of hour is a quality education with proper emphasize on humanity and its values. Those who commit such heinous crime should get the maximum punishment possible under law. If it was in my power I would have given a death punishment, after treatment in the same fashion an eye for an eye. I would have stoned them to death. I know I may look like a barbaric in my verdict but these crimes are worse form of barbarism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing