Acid attack on law student blinds her

Srinagar: A 22-year-old college girl received severe burn injuries on her face when two unknown men threw acid on her outside Law College at Nowshera, in the city outskirts on Thursday. The incident, second in two years, has sent shock waves throughout Kashmir.

Eyewitnesses and police said that two car borne persons intercepted a B.A LLB student hailing from Aloochi Bagh outside her college in Tawheedabad, Nowshera on Thursday morning and threw some corrosive liquid towards her when she was walking towards her collage with other students studying with her in the same collage.

Soon after committing the act , the culprits, which one report said were three in number, sped away from the crime scene.

According to the eyewitnesses the victim ran screaming across the road after the attack as the liquid burned into her face.

A number of Law College students who were present outside the college and the passersby rushed towards screaming girl. Some poured water over the victim’s face in a desperate bid to wash away the acid.

“She was calling out for her mother and saying, ‘All my face is burning’ as we splashed the water on her face,” a resident said.

“She was moving towards college when the culprits appeared there and chucked something on her face before running away. It is just an awful thing to happen,” said a student carrying placards seeking ban on the sale of acids in the market.

The doctors attending on her say that victim has received 40 percent serious burn injuries on the left side of her face and they could rob her of her vision.

Principal Law College Nowshera, Abdul Samad Bhat said that as usual students were present in the premises of the college. “Retired JusticeBashir Kirmani was scheduled to address the students, so most of the students were present in the college. All of a sudden students rushed towards the road and what we found shocked us all,” Bhat said.

He added that two persons in white Maruti- 800 car had appeared before our female students and squirted acid on the face of one of the students who is the topper of the college. “We rushed her to SKIMS where from she was shifted to JVC and then back to SKIMS,” he said and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.

Hundreds of students and residents soon after the incident blocked the road and demanded immediate arrest of the culprits. “The assailants should be hanged so that in future nobody dares to indulge in such gruesome act,” a protesting female student demanded.

Meanwhile, police has launched a manhunt to nab the attackers.A police spokesman issued a statement saying: Today two unknown attackers threw acid on a girl (name withheld) near Law College Tawheedabad, Nowshera in the jurisdiction of police station Soura. The attackers fled in a white Maruti car having a sticker “MANSA” pasted on its rear glass.

Police has registered a case vide FIR number 136/2014 in this regard and investigation has been taken up.

Seeking cooperation from the general public, police has said that anybody having any information regarding the white Maruti car having a sticker “MANSA” pasted on its rear glass that was used by the attackers may please intimate Police Station Soura Mobile 9596770587,9596770867 or Police Control Room, Kashmir on Dial 100.

It bears mention that a similar attack was carried on a 30-year-old female school teacher in Baghat-Barzulla area of the city in January 2013. The man who threw the acid was sentenced to 10-year jail this year.

The victem who was a school teacher attacked last year is not happy with the punishment given to the culprit.

The two culprits involved in the acid attack on a college girl in Srinagar have given a slip to Police at SheikH Ul Alam International Airport, a top police official said.

According to the police official, who wished not to be identified said the two culprits were last seen at Sheikh Ul Alam International Airport, Srinagar yesterday and were trying to leave the region.

"The two culprits were seen getting down from a white Maruti car 800 with 'MANSA' written on it at the airport," the official said.The duo tried to book tickets for Delhi from a ticketing counter at the airport.

The official said they couldn't get tickets for the flight and left in hurry from the spot before police could nab them.Police has requested airport authorities to handoverthe CCTV footage to identify the attackers.

Attack evokes condemnation Chairperson of Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM) Asiya Andrabi expressed serious anguish over the incident. She said these ‘inhuman’ and ‘immoral’ actions are spreading due to growing ‘cinema culture’ in the society. She accused government of spreading and thrusting “Bollywood” culture over people “by spending money over it”.

“Government is trying to replace Islamic culture and morals with so called modernization. It is not the first time that such incident took place in Srinagar. Romana Javed also lost her life in one such incident and culprits are still roaming free; killers of Tabinda Gani are also enjoying political patronage,” Asiya said in a statement

said.

“Until and unless, we revert to Islamic values and stop supporting the characterless politicians, such incidents will continue in our society,” Andrabi added.

Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq condemned the acid attack and said the accused should be given exemplary punishment.

Strongly condemning the incident, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti termed the incident as “horrific, inhuman and against the basic human values”.

In a statement, Mehbooba said that society need to stands up against these heinous acts and needs to introspect and restore the value system that used to hold women in high esteem.

While conveying her feelings of solidarity to victim and her family,she hoped that the perpetrators of crime are expeditiously brought to justice for appropriate punishment.

Meanwhile, the reputed surgeon and national spokesperson of PDP DP Sameer Kaul has extended complete free medical assistance to the victim.

A youth group in Jammu and Kashmir while condemning the acid-attack on a college student Thursday called for protests over the incident is state's summer capital and New Delhi.

The group called for a protest on December 12 at Press Enclave at 2:00pm. A similar kind of protest will be held at Jantar Mantar in NewDelhi by ”Stop Acid Attacks” group.

By IshuEye