Acid attack victims still waiting for justice

ROPAR: Anu was a teenager when her father died. Being the eldest child of the family with two siblings and a mother to take care of, the 19-year-old trained to be a nurse to support the family and to continue her studies. But, little did she know that for all the sacrifices that she was making, her life would take a tragic turn and would change forever on that fateful day of January 28, 2010.
Accompanied by two of her friends, Jaswinder and Kiran, Anu was returning home that day, when a miscreant threw acid on them.Anu suffered 70% burns on her face, neck and arms. Jaswinder too suffered serious burns on face and other body parts, scarring her head and resulting in loss of hair. But, one-and-half years later, the two have not even got the satisfaction of knowing who perpetrated the dastardly act. “We have appealed to the police so many times to bring the culprit in front of me so that I can also take a similar revenge,” says Anu.
She stopped going to the college soon after the incident and now spends her time behind closed doors, conscious and scared of the peoples’ stares. “Whenever Anu looks at the mirror, all the pain and miseries come back to haunt her and she starts crying,” says Suman, victim’s mother. “I am always tense about her future as she is now 21, and of marriageable age,” her mother sighs, looking at her daughter. Suman took Anu to the local hospital, but the authorities referred her to PGI, saying it was a ‘sensitive case’. Doctors at PGI said it was a surgical case which needed huge money, which has now left the mother under more stress. “Our relatives are giving us financial assistance for now, but for how long and how much,” she asked with tears rolling down her old eyes.
Relatives of both the victims approached the local police for justice countless number of times but the culprits roam free, since they remain unidentified. District police chief Jitender Singh Aulakh said, “I am not aware of this matter as nobody from the victim’s family has approached me yet. I will now put my best efforts to solve this case.”