drink acid

Bhopal, July 21: A 25-year-old woman, who was allegedly forced to drink acid by her husband and sister-in-law in Madhya Pradesh on June 28, is in a critical condition and being treated at a Delhi hospital.

As the incident came to light, Delhi Commission For Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal wrote to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, accusing the police of handling the case with “insensitivity”. She also sought justice for the victim.

According to the information, the incident took place in the Dabra area of Ramgarh village in the Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. The woman was allegedly forced to drink acid by her husband and sister-in-law on June 28. As the woman’s condition worsened, she was brought to Delhi for treatment on July 18.

Five days after the incident happened, police, based on a complaint by the woman’s mother, registered a case against the woman’s husband and other accused under the Dowry ACT. However, no strict action was reportedly taken in the matter.

The woman was earlier admitted to a nearby hospital in Gwalior by a neighbor. As the woman’s condition worsened, she was brought to Delhi for treatment on July 18.

Later, her brother called the DCW’s 181 helplines, after which a team got her admitted to a Delhi hospital and got her statements recorded before a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) here, reported.

The incident grabbed attention when DCW chief Swati Maliwal took to Twitter to inform that she has written a letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in connection with the matter.

 

In her letter, Maliwal claimed that the Madhya Pradesh police registered a “weak” FIR in the matter on June 3, “omitting the sections related to acid attack and termed this heinous act as domestic violence”.

Swati Maliwal said that the survivor alleged in her statements that her husband was in an illicit relationship with a woman. She said when she got to know about it, her husband brutally thrashed her and made her drink acid.

Swati Maliwal and DCW member Promila Gupta met the survivor at the hospital. “She is in a very critical condition and according to the doctors, her internal organs are totally burnt and damaged,” Maliwal said.

“The woman’s food pipe, stomach, and intestines have got burnt and are visible. She can neither drink nor eat anything anymore. She is also vomiting blood very frequently,” Swati Maliwal said.

“The doctors are not very hopeful of her recovery as she is in a very bad state. It is a matter of shame that the Madhya Pradesh police dealt with such a serious case with this kind of insensitivity,” Maliwal said.

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“I have written a letter to the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, asking him to get the culprits arrested and ensure action against the police officers who tried to weaken the case,” Maliwal said.

Meanwhile, a DCW team has been assisting the survivor at the hospital, since she was admitted there, reported.