3 minor Dalit sisters attacked with acid while sleeping at home in UP

LUCKNOW: Three minor Dalit girls were attacked with acid while they were sleeping on the first floor of their house in Gonda district on Tuesday morning. The incident was reported from Pakkapurwa village under Paraspur police station in the district. 

The girls have been admitted to the district hospital in Gonda. The eldest sister has suffered around 30% burn injuries, said the doctors.

Police said the three daughters a member of the block development council were sleeping on the first floor of their house when some unidentified people jumped onto the rooftop from the adjacent building and attacked the three with acid. The eldest of the three sleeping in the middle seemed to be the target of the goons. She has sustained the maximum burn injuries on her face.

“I couldn’t see who threw the acid on me and my sisters as we were asleep, we don’t have any enmity with anyone,” one of the sisters said.

“The doctors are trying to ascertain what kind of chemical was used in the attack. All the girls have been admitted to a government hospital and are under treatment,” said Shailesh Kumar Pandey, SP of Gonda.

“The eldest girl, 17, has suffered 30% burn injuries while the two younger ones aged 12 and 8 years have got around 20% and 5% to 7% burn injuries respectively,” added the SP.

The father of the victims while his daughters were sleeping on the first floor, he and his wife were sleeping on the ground floor. He got up past midnight on hearing the screams of the girls.

While taking the girls to the hospital, the distraught father informed the local police post in-charge Umesh Verma about the incident. Verma informed his seniors and they rushed to the district hospital where the girls are undergoing treatment.

The father of the victims denied having any enmity with anyone. However, he said that he had fixed the marriage of his eldest daughter in Lucknow and a pre-wedding ritual was scheduled for October 23. “We all were preparing for her ‘god-bharayee’ ceremony. She has passed class 10 this year and the two younger ones are studying in class 6 and 2 respectively.” 

Meanwhile, the SP claimed that the police and the forensic team were trying to find the attackers as the family was clueless about the culprits. The SP also said that he had spoken to the family and they did not have suspicion on anyone as of now. “The police and forensic team have collected all the samples from the crime scene,” Pandey said.

A police official said prima facie it seemed to be the handiwork of someone living nearby. Even investigation was on to find out the nature of the chemical used in the attack, said the police officials.

The police sources claimed that they had recovered a damaged mobile phone from the rooftop where the three were sleeping. Even the empty bottle of the acid used in the attack was also recovered from outside the house.

Besides Gonda SP Shailesh Kumar Pandey, DIG Range, Dr. Rakesh Singh, and Gonda DM Dr. Nitin Bansal have also visited the spot to take stock of the situation and talk to the victims' family.