In an extremely distressing turn of events 22-year-old Salma, a native of Gulaothi area in Bulandshahr, who was allegedly attacked with acid on May 9, by her two brothers Irfan and Rizwan and later dumped from a moving car in Kot village in Greater Noida’s Dadri on Thursday afternoon has now been abandoned by her mother too.
Salma, who has been receiving treatment for critical burn injuries on the face and neck at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital is said t be in a critical condition. According to the hospital sources Salma’s respiratory track has also been damaged by the acid attack and is on a life support system.
The ghastly incident occurred around 1:30 pm, on May 9, when the girl was travelling in a car along with her two brothers. The accused duo stopped the car near Kot village and pulled the victim out. They hurled a bottle of acid on her and fled away in the car leaving her lying on road, confirmed Avaneesh Kumar Singh, Circle Officer, Dadri.
A passerby noticed the woman on the road and immediately informed the police. By the time they rushed her to the hospital, she has lost her eyesight.
The accused were reportedly miffed with their sister as she had “befriended” a married man from the neighbourhood “belonging to another religion”. Both have been booked for attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
The victim has now been abandoned by her mother too. Salma is being taken care of by a team of nurses. The cops on duty have been taking care of the victim and have also arranged for an attendant to help take the girl to the washroom.
A woman constable of UP Police posted at the hospital said that the mother was tracked down by cops two days ago and was brought to the ICU to meet Salma. She was there with the victim for a while but disappeared later in the evening, confirmed the police.
The victim, however, told the police that this is not the first time that her brothers tried to kill her, earlier also they tried several times but she got saved.
Similarly, in another suspected case of honour killing, a Muslim woman was strangulated and mutilated by her father and brother in Purba Burdwan district, West Bengal, for being in a ‘relationship’ with a Hindu man.
In June last year, a pregnant Muslim woman was burnt alive by her family in Karnataka for marrying a Hindu man, while a Hindu man and his Muslim wife were killed in broad daylight by woman’s brother in Uttar Pradesh in November 2014.
There have been several instances also where the man has been castigated for being in a relationship with a Muslim girl or woman like the one we reported late last year where four members of a Muslim family, including a woman, had been accused of killing a member of their own family – a teenage girl – because she fell in love with a Hindu boy, who was also killed by them. Similarly, in September last year, a Hindu man was killed in Andhra Pradesh for being in a relationship with a Muslim girl. In March 2015, a Hindu man in Bihar was also killed as he ‘dared’ to marry a Muslim girl.
In another such incident, in February this year, a Hindu boy named Ankit Saxena was brutally murdered in Delhi for being in a relationship with a girl named Shehzadi from the Muslim community. The alleged murderers were relatives, including parents, of the girl. The Ankit Saxena case particularly gained gravity because this went on to become a classic example of varied media houses’ bias reporting where mainstream media tried to conceal the religious identity of the girl’s family.
