Koteshwar: Near here in Rajaram polymers a cow was brutally hurt by hurling acid on it. Miscreants have shown their sadistic nature by throwing acid on an innocent animal.

Everyday cattle go out and come back after filling its stomach. The incident had happened when the cows where out. The owner of the cow was anxious that the cow hadn’t returned since 5 days.

After 5 days the cow has returned home weak and tired. Its skin was burnt due to acid attack. The doctor was called upon immediately to treat the cow.

The owner wants the culprits to be caught and punished. He willing to lodge a complaint against insanity on animal.

Mumbai: The Nagpada police have arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly stalking his former girlfriend and blackmailing her, threatening that he would throw acid on the 21-year-old if she did not have a physical relationship with him.

The accused has been identified as Javed Sayyed, originally from Delhi; he has been working in a private firm for a while now in Mumbai. The girl became friends with Sayyed through a social networking site four years back when she was in Std XI.

Thereafter they started talking and chatting online on the site. Sayyed once told the girl that he was coming to meet her in Mumbai. After coming to the city, Sayyed met her, and both went to Manori, Malad and clicked a few pictures there. Sayyed then returned to Delhi, and went to Dubai for employment.

Shattered hopes
Sayyed and the girl were in a relationship till then. Sayyed came back to Mumbai to meet the girl in December 2013. They both then decided to marry, but the girl’s family objected as Sayyed is a Muslim and the girl is Hindu. Subsequently, the girl’s family fixed her marriage with another person, which upset Sayyed.

He found a job in Mumbai and started living at Nagpada. According to police, Sayyed then started blackmailing the girl, saying that he would post the pictures of both of them on a social networking site. Sayyed also threatened her, saying that he would throw acid on her if she did not get into a physical relationship.

Tired of the constant blackmail, the girl approached the police on Friday. Sayyed, who was arrested on Saturday, was booked under Sections 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), of the IPC, and 66C of the IT Act (punishment for identity theft). The accused has been remanded to police custody till Tuesday.

Odisha: Acid attack survivor Sonali Mukherjee whose tale was shared on Amitabh Bachchan’s famous show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' married her friend Chittaranjan Tewary on Thursday.
Working in Bhushan Steel, Odisha  Sonali’s husband hails from Jamshedpur, is an electrical engineer by profession. Chittaranjan had heard many stories of Sonali’s courageous fight.

 Seeing her confidence,  Chittaranjan extended his friendship through social networking site Facebook and later they two fell in love. Unlike, other love stories, it was girl who proposed to boy first for marriage.

 The marriage with proper rituals have been scheduled for later this month. Sonali was merely an 18-year-old when an acid attack changed her entire life. Reportedly, on April 22, 2003 some miscreants splashed acid on her face when she was asleep on the terrace of her home. The attack disfigured Sonali’s face and since then she has undergone several reconstructive surgeries and fought a painful battle of her life.

Cruelty may have scarred their skin but not the resolve to achieve their dreams.

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day on Sunday, 11 women, whose lives were brutally altered by acid attacks, will look to take the social media by storm through the launch of a calendar that features them.

Aiming to “broaden the interpretation of beauty,” the calendar, an initiative of the non-governmental organisation Stop Acid Attacks, will be launched on the social media. Named Bello, which stands for beautiful in Italian, the calendar depicts each of the survivors portraying the dreams they wanted to achieve before the acid attack. If Dolly has posed like a doctor, Sonia is shown as a make-up artist at work, while Laxmi poses with her DSLR camera.

“I was 13 and he 36 when he attacked me with acid in the name of love. He used to tease me when I came from school. I just wanted to study and become a doctor but because of this attack, I am unable to study properly and I have discontinued. But I want to start again, want to fulfil my dreams and serve people,” said Dolly on a Facebook post by Rahul Saharan, one of the three photographers featuring in the calendar.

The calendar is to celebrate the beauty and courage of these women and sensitise people to their lives, said Mr. Sharan, who has shot eight pictures in the calendar. “I consider it a social duty to raise awareness of these women. There is a strong need for acceptance of these fighters and change people’s perceptions about them,” he said.

Acid attack survivors often fall victim to acute depression and de-motivation. Mr. Sharan said the calendar would play its bit in restoring some confidence in the lives of these women. “It’s a message to every girl; don’t let circumstances and negative people become a barrier in your life. Live your dreams, achieve your goals,” Mr. Sharan said.

The funds gathered from the sale of the calendars will be spent on the rehabilitation of the women. The calendar can be purchased online on www.paltan.in The NGO hopes to reach out to millions of people through social media and has appealed to celebrities in Hollywood and Bollywood to share the calendar launch online.

The calendar took over five-six months to shoot.

Kasargod: A 76 year-old man was sentenced to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment and slammed Rs 40,000 penalty in connection to an acid attack case.

The convict is Solomon Thomas. He had splashed acid on Jebin, Niranjan and Unni and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl child in a bus bound to Kadumeni in an inebriated condition on May 3, 2014. A case was registered in Vellarikudu police station.
Judge M.J. Shakthidharan who pronounced the verdict also ordered the convict to undergo an additional two year term in case he didn’t pay the amount.

 Solomon pleaded to reduce his jail term citing his failing health due to cancer. He told the court that he wanted to live rest of his life with his wife and children. However court dismissed his plea saying Solomon was fully aware of the consequences of his act.  

On Janauary 9, 2015 a woman doctor was riding on her two wheeler to her work place when two bike borne youth overtook her and splashed  acid on her face. The victim suffered severe burns on her face and she was rushed to a hospital, but by then the innocent 30 year old lady had lost her one eye.

This incident happened in Keshav Puram area in Delhi. The reason behind the acid attack was one side love or rejection of the girl from marrying the accused.

This incident is only one example from thousands of acid attacks on women that take place every other day in our country. Reason behind these attacks may vary but the most common reason is love failure. In Delhi case also the accused was none other than the victims close buddy. He was a classmate and close friend of her who fell in love with her but never expressed it. As the girl was engaged to some other guy, accused hatched a plan to ruin her life and paid some amount to two youths who were notorious in exhibiting these kinds of crimes. Surprisingly one of the accused was a juvenile.

After all why men tend to get so furious or rather say jealous about their loved ones. The obsession for the girl whom they love lead to commit these kinds of crimes?

Whatever may be the reason, the girl who becomes the victim of this trauma can never come out of the nightmare that she has been gone through. The scar on her body and in her heart will remain as long as she lives. The plight of the acid attack victims still remains unheard. Government and judiciary can only punish the offenders, but that can never bring back the damaged body nor reduce the pain the victim had gone through.

No matter how much we shout that men and women are equal, there is huge gap when it comes to crimes on women. Sexual harassments on women are rampant and acid attacks are more often hits the headlines of the news paper.

Younger generation must think about this and act wisely. Disfiguring the face of a girl is not an act of real man, think about it.