Her face is a mass of burnt flesh and her eyes, reduced to tiny orifices from which she tries to look at people but can’t. “I can’t see anything....he burnt me,” says Hina Fathima while writhing in pain.
Hina is in the burns centre at Victoria Hospital. She was shifted from KR Hospital, Mysore, on Sunday, where she was admitted after her husband Fairoz burnt her with acid.
On August 8, Fairoz reportedly forced her to drink whisky mixed with acid, and later threw acid on her face. He didn’t stop at that. He even burnt her eyes with a cigarette butt. All this for not bringing home enough dowry.
When Deccan Herald visited her in the burns centre, she was lying in the corridor with four other burns victims.
“The centre is full. We had to put them in the corridor as there are no beds,” said Dr Shankarappa M, professor and head of Department of Plastic Surgery, Mahabodhi Burns Centre, Victoria Hospital, Bangalore Medical College.
Hina’s face is charred black, her eyes pale yellow and her jaw constricted due to burns.
Her upper torso is burnt and reduced to a lump of burnt flesh. Both her upper limbs are bandaged because they have nothing on them.
She writhes in pain and begs her mother Adeeb Khaleda - her sole attendant - for some water and a pillow.
“I can’t give you a pillow bete (my child). Doctor has told me not to. Try and sleep,” Khaleda tells Fathima.
“He did this to me because I didn’t get him dowry. He should also be burnt like this. I’m very tired of the pain. Pray to Allah to take me,” Fathima said.
Though doctors have told the family to give her whatever she wants to eat, Fathima can barely open her mouth to drink even water.
“Yesterday she asked me for an icecream. She ate a little. She wanted some biscuits but she can’t eat anything,” sobbed Khaleda. “Dua karo meri bachchi ke liye,” (pray for my daughter) she begged the visitors.
Fathima has five more siblings. Her father, Muneer Khan, a former Railway employee, is suffering from dementia.
“There’s no one to come and be with her. Our sons are coolies; they can’t miss a day’s work. Daughters are married, they have their own lives. One daughter has to be with my husband as he’s sick,” said Khaleda.
Fathima’s condition is critical. “She has suffered intense burns and 35 per cent of her body is burnt. She has lost vision in both her eyes and her stomach is blocked and cannot secrete acids. We are giving her injections to reduce acidity. She cannot open her mouth. Because of the intensity of her burns, her face has become hard like a rock,” said Dr Shankarappa.
Fathima, despite being administered narcotic analgesic, has not found any relief from pain. “It is too early to say anything about her condition,” he said.