Caustic affair: Three of family critically injured in acid attack

The injured are being treated at Jhang DHQ hospital.

FAISALABAD:

Police said on Saturday that three people had been critically injured in Jhang after two men threw acid at them.

They said Mumtaz Begum was sleeping with her children, Fakhar Abbas and Shabnam Battool, at her house in Varyam area when Muhammad Tauseef and Ismatullah forcibly entered the residence and threw acid at them.

Police said they also threatened the three with dire consequences if they registered a complaint against them. Some bystanders rushed to their rescue and sent them to Shorkot district headquarters hospital.

They were shifted to Jhang district headquarters hospital after their condition worsened.

A doctor from the hospital told The Express Tribune that they were striving to save their lives. He said the attack had left them with 50-70 per cent burns.

He said the injured were being given treatment and the next 24 hours were crucial.

Varyam Station House Officer (SHO) Safdar Ahmed said Begum’s son, Sadaqat Ali, had told them that the men had thrown acid at his family after they had refused to marry their daughter to one of them.

Ali told journalists that the police were reluctant to arrest them as they had the support of influential people. Station House Officer Ahmed denied all the claims made by Sadaqat Ali.

He said a police team had been constituted to arrest the men and a case had been registered against them. Station House Officer Ahmed said police hoped to apprehend them in 24 hours.

He said a police team would probe the allegations transparently and no one would be allowed to influence the investigations.

Station House Officer Ahmed said they would likely be tried before an anti-terrorism court after they were arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2014.