Acid attack victim expires

MULTAN: 25-year-old Sadaqat Ali, who was attacked with acid by a woman for spurning her, succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday, police said.

Police said Ali had died at Nishtar Hospital’s burn unit. Siddique Jutt, the father of the victim, also confirmed his son’s passing. The deceased had been in a relationship with 36-year-old Shamim, a resident of Makhdoom Rasheed area. Ali was also slated to get married to a cousin of his post-Eid, who he had been betrothed to for several years.

Police said Shamim had been pestering Ali to marry her. Officials said she had confessed to attacking him with acid. “He promised to marry me. We had planned that I would obtain a divorce from my husband and get married to him. I intended to leave my (four) children with my husband,” she told police. Shamim said differences had cropped up among the two over the issue. She said he had started avoiding her and would present lame excuses to evade the topic of marriage. The woman said his conduct had left her incensed. This, she said, had made her attack him with acid.

Ali’s brother Sharafat said Ali had been engaged to a cousin a while back. He said they were due to get married post-Eid.

He dismissed claims of him being in a relationship with the mother-of-four. “It is a matter of shame that a woman has levelled such allegations,” Sharafat said. He said Shamim had been pursuing him for a long time, saying she wanted to obtain a divorce and marry him. Ali had gone to see Shamim late on July 15 when she had attacked him with acid, police said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2016.