INDIA/FILE: Acid attack victims appeals to the Indian government for mercy killing after not getting any help from anyone

Record ID: 353673

  • Title: INDIA/FILE: Acid attack victims appeals to the Indian government for mercy killing after not getting any help from anyone
  • Date: 27th July 2012
  • Summary: NEW DELHI, INDIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SUSHMA KAPOOR, DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR UN WOMEN IN SOUTH ASIA, SAYING: "This is happening because of the gender stereotypes, this is happening because of patriarchal mindsets, this is happening because men and society, somehow believes that women are second class citizens and that you can do to them whatever you feel l
  • Embargoed: 11th August 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: India
  • Country: India
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA78IIFRQATY27GQGV424YX7ONP
  • Story Text: Three youngsters came in the dead of night, broke into her home as she slept and poured a cocktail of acids over her face -- burning her skin, melting her eyelids, nose, mouth and ears, and leaving her partially deaf and almost blind.
    Her crime? She had spurned their sexual advances.
    Nine years on, Sonali Mukherjee, 27, is appealing to the Indian government for medical support for skin reconstructive surgery as well as tougher penalties on her three assailants, who were released on bail after only three years in prison.
    Either that, she says, or authorities should give her the right to kill herself. Euthanasia is illegal in India.

    "After so much of disappointment, I have appealed to the government for mercy killing. Life is a huge burden for me and the main reason for that is financial problems. We did not get any help from anywhere, neither from the government, nor the society, nor NGOs and neither from any of our relatives. We tried a lot and after exhausting all options I requested the government that if you can't give me justice, can't give me health then this is the last option - give me mercy killing," she says, sitting on a bed in a sparsely furnished room above a Sikh temple in south Delhi.
    Mukherjee's desperate plea highlights the heinous crime of throwing acid on women in India, the lack of support for victims, and lax laws which have allowed attackers to get away with what activists say is the equivalent of murder.
    Acid violence - where acid is intentionally thrown to maim, disfigure or blind - occurs in many countries across the world, and is most common in Cambodia, as well as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and India where deep-rooted patriarchy persists.
    With a bright future ahead of her, Mukherjee was a 17-year-old sociology student in the city of Dhanbad in India's central state of Jharkhand when the attack happened back in April 2003.
    The three men were her neighbours and harassed her as she left for college every morning. When she threatened to call the police, they took revenge, leaving her with 70 percent burns to her face, neck and arms.
    An Indian court handed down nine-year jail terms to each of her attackers. But within three years, the men were out on bail. Her appeal against their release has yielded little results, says Mukherjee, and she continues to worry about her safety.

    "My strong wish is that the government should think seriously about such incidents and the perpetrators of such incidents who commit such crimes and then easily get away with it, get out of prisons easily and then again harass people. There should be a strong law and legislation so that they are not released from prisons and another Sonali does not burn. This is my strong desire because I have felt this pain and I am still burning in this fire," she pleaded.
    Around 1,500 acid attacks are reported globally each year, with 80 percent of them on women, says London-based charity, Acid Survivors Trust International, adding this is a gross under-estimate as most victims are scared to speak out.
    Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy the Pakistani film maker of the Oscar documentary "Saving Face" on the plight of the acid attack victims said the patriarchal and feudal mindset were to blame for the current mess.

    "To buy a gun you need a license you need a lot of money, to buy acid you can just go to a store that is round the corner and you can get that. But I think more importantly more importantly, high levels of unemployment, low levels of literacy, a mindset that violence against women is okay, they are a lethal combination. Couple that with easy access to acid, voila!" Sharmeen told Reuters Television at the screening of her documentary in New Delhi.
    There is no official statistics for India, but a study conducted by Cornell University in January 2011 said there were 153 attacks reported in the media from 1999 to 2010.
    Many of these attacks, said the study, are acts of revenge because a woman spurns sexual advances or rejects a marriage proposal.

    "This is happening because of the gender stereotypes, this is happening because of patriarchal mindsets, this is happening because men and society, somehow believes that women are second class citizens and that you can do to them whatever you feel like," says Sushma Kapoor, deputy director for UN Women in South Asia.
    Unlike countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, where acid violence has in recent years been listed as a specific offence, India still categorises it as grievous hurt, dolling out penalties which are lenient and jail-terms which are bailable.
    With a rising number of reports of such attacks, the cabinet this month approved a proposal to make acid attacks a separate offence, making it punishable by 10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to 10 lakh rupees ($180,000). This will now have to be approved by parliament.
    But victims and activists say the government must also look at regulating the sale of locally produced household cleaners, which contain highly concentrated acids, that are easily and cheaply available in local markets across the country.
    Acids are increasingly being used as weapons, like guns, they say, but there are no licensing laws for those who sell and purchase these deadly chemicals which also include neat hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.
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