On 22 October 2021, Shameem Ahmad Kumar was accompanying his handicapped son to a hospital in Srinagar. Around 2 pm, Kumar received a call from home in the southern Shopian district. The caller said that Kumar’s 17-year-old daughter (name withheld) was being driven to a hospital in Srinagar after a boy attacked her with acid.
By the time Kumar reached Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital, his daughter was inside the operation theatre. Upon inquiring about her daughter’s condition, Kumar was informed that she had suffered burn injuries on her face, shoulders and arms.
The girl, a class 8 student, was attacked by a person near her home at the Kral-Chak village in Shopian district in October last year. Three days later, the attacker was arrested and remains under detention.
Shameem Ahmad Kumar, father of one of the victims, at his home in Kral-Chak village in Shopian district.
(Photo: Special Arrangement)
On 1 February this year, another 24-year-old girl became a victim of a gruesome acid attack in Kashmir’s capital city, Srinagar.
The attack took place in the Hawal area of downtown Srinagar. A day later, police arrested the main accused, Sajid Altaf Rather of Buchwara Dalgate, who had been stalking the victim as she had rejected his proposal.
The victim suffered 5% to 9% burn injuries on her face and scalp. However, doctors treating her at SMHS hospital said what concerned them was the injury she suffered in her eye.
‘Rejected Proposals’
In both cases, the attackers stalked the victim girls after their proposals for marriage were rejected. In Srinagar, Rather had been engaged to the girl for a little over eight months.
The girl’s father, Nisar Ahmad, said the boy would harass the girl demanding money from her and would torture and beat her.
The boy’s abusive behaviour led to the break-up of the engagement, following which the boy threatened the girl with an acid attack.
Although the girl had sensitised her family about the boy’s threat’s, the family did not take it seriously.
“We thought the boy would not resort to such inhuman behaviour,” said Ahmad. Just 20 days ahead of the attack, the boy had again threatened the girl that he would throw acid on her.
In the Shopian girl’s case, although the family of the girl was ready to marry their daughter to the “attacker”, it was the boy’s family who rejected the wedding.
Kumar said the boy was proposing marriage to his daughter. “I had no issues with the two marrying each other, but it was the boy’s family that repeatedly rejected the marriage.” Even though the marriage did not materialise, the boy kept stalking the girl, forcing Kumar to file a complaint at a local police station.
“Following the police complaint, the boy’s father and uncle pleaded with me to let the issue go and promised that the boy would mend his ways,” Kumar said.
But on 22 October, the boy carried out a gruesome acid attack on Kumar’s daughter.
Wide Availability of Acid’
The sale of acidic chemicals is in violation of Supreme Court directives, but the attacks on the girls point to the easy availability of such chemicals in Kashmir’s markets. The police on 3 February said that on her way back home in the evening, the victim was followed and acid was thrown on her, and later, the accused ran away.
The accused purchased the acid from a motor mechanic, who was selling it in violation of the Supreme Court guidelines.
All the accused were arrested by the Srinagar police.
‘Costly Treatment’
Kumar has so far spent over Rs 10 lakh on the treatment of his daughter. But he says he needs more, even after five surgeries. Doctors treating the girl at Ibn Sena hospital in Budgam said that she has received grievous injuries.
The girl needs multiple plastic and cosmetic surgeries to recover, the doctor said, and “it may cost up to more than 15 lac rupees”. Kumar, a contingent paid worker in the education department, had to seek public funds for the treatment of her daughter, even though the government aided the treatment with Rs 1 lakh.
“A small-time worker like me cannot afford such costly treatments, so I had to seek public help,” he said.
On 5 February, District Administration Shopian handed over the second instalment cheque of Rs 50,000 to Kumar. Earlier, he was given the first instalment of Rs 50,000.
‘Specialised Treatment’
After two surgeries in Srinagar, the government shifted the girl to a Chennai hospital for her specialised eye treatment on 7 February, where she was operated on thrice in the last ten days, said a Gowhar Gulzar, a relative.
“We are just praying that her eyesight returns,” Gulzar said.
Doctors treating her at the SMHS hospital said the 24-year-old acid victim has suffered severe damage to her one eye, and that the cornea of her second eye has also been damaged and will be transplanted.
The doctors also said that as of now, her cornea in one eye can be transplanted, and after the operation in her second eye, the status will be clearer.
However, the Shopian victim got no government assistance.
Rising Cases
The acid attacks have come as the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has said that Jammu & Kashmir saw over a 10 per cent increase in crimes against women during the previous year.
The report indicates that violence against women has seen a sharp rise amid the “conservative Muslim society in Kashmir” in recent years. In several cases, women have been ruthlessly murdered by immediate family members.
“There were 3,069 cases in 2019 and 3,414 (including nine in Ladakh) in 2020,” the report reveals, adding that 2019 had witnessed a fall of 10% in such crimes. In 2020, the report suggests there were nine cases of dowry deaths, 243 rape cases with 247 victims, including three girls, 349 cases of cruelty against women by their husbands or relatives, as many as 1,639 cases of assault on women and 1,744 cases of assault on women with the intention to outrage their modesty.
“About 30 cases of stalking were registered in 2020, which included 15 cases of sexual harassment,” the report said.
“The murder cases saw an increase of 25% with 149 cases in 2020 as against 119 in 2019.”
On 17 February, the Jammu and Kashmir Police deployed a safety squad for women in Parrypora area of Srinagar, the education hub of the city, amid the rise in crimes against women.
“The women squad has been deployed in the coaching hub of Parraypora and Baghat areas to ensure the safety of girls studying in coaching centres,” a police statement said.
‘Calls for Stringent Punishment’
In the wake of the horrific attacks, several sections of society have raised the pitch, seeking stringent punishment for the accused.
“In a place like Kashmir, we give little space to crimes against women and no one talks about it. It’s time the government takes strict action against those who abuse women,” said Mehak Jaan, a student from Kashmir University.
Arshi Qureshi, a researcher, social worker and woman rights activist from Kashmir, however, says that convictions in cases of acid attacks are very low, and as a result, the victim is put to trial and not the accused.
“If we look into the past record of convictions in cases of acid attacks, it is already very low. So, we cannot have a significant statistic to demonstrate if the current punishment is an adequate deterrent or not,” said Qureshi, adding that “the idea of stringency only in response to public outrage gets reduced to just optics if there is no sustained implementation of law and prosecution of criminals".
Jaan says the approach of the government in the Srinagar acid attack case has been prompt, which indicates that they wait for a crime to happen, and only then a response is drafted.
“Why weren't the Supreme Court guidelines implemented so far? Why did they wake up only now? It simply means they wait for crime to happen.” Jaan said.
Regulating the Sale of Acid
After the horrifying acid attack, the administration set up a surveillance task force to regulate the sale of acid.
The order issued by District Magistrate Srinagar said that guidelines issued by the Supreme Court in the case of Laxmi versus Union of India would be adhered to for selling or storage of acid.
In 2013, the Supreme Court in the case of Laxmi v. Union of India directed state governments and Union Territories to make appropriate rules for the sale of acid. It also directed the states to implement stringent norms for the retail sale of acid, treating it as a poison under the Poisons Act, 1919.
Banning the sale of acid to minors, the court said the corrosive substance can be sold to only those who have valid identity cards issued by the government, and that too after specifying the purpose for the purchase in writing.
The order issued by the Srinagar district administration includes all these directions, and the surveillance task force set has been directed to regulate the sale of acid and other corrosive substances in the district.
On 8 February, the government conducted raids in various areas of Srinagar city and sealed 13 shops for selling acid.
However, women's rights activists say the government has failed to regulate the sale of acid and implement the Supreme Court guidelines in the Valley.
“Even after the Supreme Court ban seven years ago, the sale of acid has continued,” said Arshi Qureshi.
She says there have been similar drives to regulate sales of acid in the past, but as they have seen, the drive fizzles out as public outrage fades.
‘No Rehabilitation Policy’
The newly carved Union Territory administration is yet to frame a policy and schemes for the rehabilitation of acid attack survivors.
Most acid survivors already suffer from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, while the present situation has made it worse for the ones who are not rehabilitated.
Women’s rights activists in the Valley complain that even though acid attacks are not as widespread as other crimes against women – such as domestic violence, harassment, or stalking – the indifference to crimes against women, in general, has created an atmosphere of “impunity for men”.
“The society has the bigger responsibility to have a clarity on why such attacks take place and to accept survivors without stigmatising them,” Qureshi said.
(Auqib Javeed is a Srinagar-based journalist. He tweets at @AuqibJaveed. Muhammad Raafi is an independent journalist based in Kashmir. This is an opinion article and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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