Two men attack sleeping woman and 4-yr son with acid

Hemi lost her eyesight and has 50 per cent burn wounds on her upper body.

MIRPUR KHAS: A woman and her son were badly burnt after two men threw acid at them in a small village 40km from Mirpurkhas.

Hemi Kohli lost her eyesight and received 50% burns on her upper body and her four-year-old son, Ashok, who was sleeping beside her, received 10% burns on his back on Wednesday night.

They were taken from Sodho Odh village to Pithoro hospital and later to the Civil hospital in Hyderabad.

Hemi’s husband, Lalji Kohli, told Sindh Express that the men were in the fields when the incident took place. He added that he had no enmity with anyone in the area and was not aware of the motive.

Dongar Kohli, Hemi’s father-in-law, claimed that the landlord’s son, Chunni Odh, was behind the attack. “Chunni wanted ‘friendship’ with my daughter-in-law and he threw acid on her when she refused,” he said.

Pithoro SHO Abdul Sattar Gurgez said that two suspects, Lachhman Odh and Chunni Odh, had been arrested. “I think it is a matter of [a] friendship but the police are investigating. The family has not registered a case and we’ll have to take a statement from the mother and son,” he said.

Lachhman was, however, released later on.

An FIR was registered on Thursday against Odh and another man. Odh has been given on remand to the police for four days.

Khiyal Das Kohistani, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz for minorities, visited the hospital and assured his support to the family.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2012.