Compensation sum insulting to acid attack victim: Sushma

The compensation of Rs.2 lakh paid by the Congress-led Maharashtra government to the Delhi acid attack victim was "grossly inadequate" and "insulting", BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said Monday, two days after the 23-year-old died in a Mumbai hospital.

"The compensation of mere two lakh rupees by Maharashtra Government is grossly inadequate. It is adding insult to the injury," Sushma Swaraj said on her Twitter account.

"The acid attack on Preeti Rathi and her death is very painful. Unfortunately, the culprit is still at large," she said.

On May 2, some unidentified man threw acid on Preeti as she got off from the New Delhi-Mumbai Garib Rath Express at the Bandra Terminus to take up her new job as a nurse in the army hospital in Mumbai.

She suffered grievous injuries which included collapse of her right lung, damage to her left lung, oesophagus, windpipe, trachea and other vital organs.

Preeti succumbed to her serious injuries Saturday in a Mumbai private hospital and her body was taken to the national capital by a flight early Monday, her father Amar Singh Rathi told IANS.

The family of the victim Sunday called on Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil and demanded justice for their daughter.

Patil, while extending compensation of Rs.2 lakh on behalf of the state government, assured them that the matter would be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).