Unidentified assailants threw acid on a 35-year-old complainant in a gangrape case in Lucknow’s Aliganj area on Saturday evening, the fourth violent attack on her since she reported the assault nine years ago.
The latest incident took place on Saturday night near a hostel where she resides. She was rushed to a hospital where her condition was stated to be stable.
She has sustained burn injuries on her face and neck, police said, adding that no FIR has been registered yet and they are awaiting a complaint.
A probe is on in the matter, they said.
The woman is undergoing treatment at the trauma centre in Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University. Police said there are injuries on her face after the latest attack. “She was outside her hostel when someone came and threw acid on her. There are injuries to the right side of her face. The woman is in trauma. We will take strict action,” Abhay Kumar Prasad, Additional Director General of Police, Lucknow.
“She used to live in a working women hostel. The incident took place inside the hostel premises. After the previous incidents, two gunners were appointed for her. The attack took place at the shift changing time of gunner. Nobody saw any outsider entering the hostel,” Prasad said.
Police said a formal complaint has not been registered as the family is yet to give a complaint. UP Women Welfare minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi said, “We have given them a lot of protection, there is a guard, a vehicle, have connected them with employment.” “The investigation is on, let’s see what comes out.”
Earlier on March 23, the woman was allegedly forced to drink acid by two men on-board a train near here. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had visited her at a hospital and announced Rs 1 lakh assistance for the 45-year-old woman.
The incident had came to light when the woman had got off the Allahabad-Lucknow Ganga Gomti Express at Charbagh Station and gave a written complaint to the government railway police. She wrote the complaint as she could not speak.
Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Juhi Singh on Sunday held the state’s law and order responsible for the brutality. She said, “The law and order has completely broken down in UP. Everyday there are instances of harassment, rapes, murders, and exploitation.”
Juhi questioned the state’s road map and the minister-in-charge of the law and order about the miscreants not being arrested. “I would ask our minister in-charge of law and order, as to why this case has not been fast tracked. It is necessary that such people should be punished immediately”, she further said.
