Appalling incidents: 2 women, 2 girls attacked with acid

Both the women and their daughters hurt on their way to market in separate incidents.

FAISALABAD:

Two women and their two daughters were injured in acid attacks on Thursday.

A woman and her daughter suffered an acid attack in the Barana area.

Station House Officer Naveed Cheema told The Express Tribune that the 22-year-old Adda Sheikhan resident had been living with her two children while her husband was abroad.

He said that the woman told police that Javed, a neighbour, had proposed to her and asked her to secure a divorce from her husband and marry him, but she had refused.

She said Javed and his two accomplices had thrown acid on her and her 4-year-old daughter while they were going shopping.

The two were taken to Allied Hospital for treatment where doctor on duty, Dr Mazhar, who had treated her, said that she had received burns on 30 per cent of her body and her daughter had received 40 per cent burns.

“Both are out of danger now,” he said. Station House Officer Cheema said a case had been registered on the woman’s complaint and police were looking for the suspect.

Unidentified assailants

In another incident, a woman, 35, and her daughter, 8, were attacked with acid by unidentified assailants in the Civil Line area.

The woman and her daughter were attacked at the street by two men riding a motorcycle.

Some witnesses said the mother and the daughter started shouting for help, attracting passers-by who called the Rescue 1122.

They were taken to Allied Hospital, where doctors treating them said that the mother had suffered 35 per cent burns and the daughter 20 per cent.

Dr Nagra, one of the doctors treating the injured, said that the acid had affected their faces and the upper bodies. Both of them have been kept in the intensive care unit, she said.

Police said the reason behind the attack has not been identified yet.

They said the woman’s family had refused to talk to the police or the media about the incident.

However, police said, a neighbour of the injured woman told them that she had once mentioned being chased by some unidentified people.

Civil Lines deputy superintendent of police said that the police were awaiting a formal complaint.

Following the two incidents, MNA Begum Khalida Mansoor expressed deep concern over the situation. She urged that the law enforcing agencies should evolve a comprehensive strategy to curb such incidents.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2012.