Arrest not enough, women need safety, says acid attack survivor's kin

The family and neighbours of the 23-year-old woman, who was attacked with acid in Bengaluru last month, say the arrest of the accused, Nagesh Babu, on Friday in Tamil Nadu, is not enough.

The government must take stronger action, they told DH. They also called for capital punishment and restrictions on the sale of acid to deter anyone from indulging in the heinous crime. Nagesh, a factory worker, was a spurned lover. “The police should have shot the man in both legs, not one (when he tried to flee) and rendered him immobile. Stringent punishment is needed,” the survivor’s father, Raju, said.

When DH reached out to Raju, his wife and relatives were at St John’s Hospital, Koramangala, where his daughter is undergoing surgery and care for third-degree burns on her face, neck and upper chest. Chief of Medical Services Dr Arvind Kasthuri said the patient is doing reasonably well, but it would be a month or more before she can be discharged.

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The family wasn’t allowed to meet her because of medical protocols but they had communicated to her Nagesh’s arrest. “I don’t know her state of mind. She can’t speak right now (because of the burns),” said Raju.

Survivor’s maternal aunt Vijayamma lives next to Raju’s house on Omshakthi Temple Main Road, Hegganahalli Cross.

“Out of nowhere, he showed up outside her house last month. The family had decorated the house for their elder daughter’s wedding. He saw that, got angry, and told me and my niece’s mother when we were sitting outside that he would like to marry her. We chased him away. We called up his elder brother to scold him,” Vijayamma said.

The attack happened a few days after this when the survivor was walking up the stairs of the office of a finance gold loan company, off Magadi Road. “She had just taken the stairs when she spotted the man and came running back. But he had thrown the acid,” Raju said recalling the tragic phone call he received on April 28. “Appa! It’s him,” she said over phone.

“She is an MCom graduate. Her elder sister is an engineer. Their father sells vegetables on a cart door to door and their mother is a homemaker. The family has worked very hard to get to this point in life,” Vijayamma said. “He should be shot dead. Even if he comes out of jail 20 years later, he will still come looking for my niece. My niece looked like a doll. What has he done to her!” she lamented, while the survivor’s maternal grandmother and neighbour looked on.

“To attack with acid… Is this love? If he loved her, he would have tried to convince her about his feelings,” Revamma, a shop owner in the neighbourhood, said.