***** All the characters mentioned in the narrative are completely fictitious and are solely the creation of my imagination. If there is any resemblance with anyone living or dead, it is purely coincidental.*****
***** The narrative is not written to hurt the feelings of anyone or any community.*****
Sunaina, or Suni to her parents, used to live in a remote rural village. Her father, though not literate, was very supportive of her education. Whatever he earned from farming, the lion’s share was kept aside for her schooling and higher education. Suni too was a very bright student. She topped at her 10th standard and 12th standard exams in the whole district and received a scholarship for higher education from the Government. She was the pride of her parents and the whole village adored her. She wanted to be a doctor and improve the medical facilities of her small village.
Unfortunately her village did not have a medical college in its vicinity. So she had to get admitted to a college to study medicine in a nearby town. Every day she used to walk a couple of miles to catch a bus and then another half an hour journey to the school. The same cycle followed in reverse order at the end of the day.
And that was when it all started. One day she noticed a boy, may be of her similar age, following her on a motorcycle. The boy used to stalk her till she boards the bus and she gets down from the bus while she returns from the school. Initially she did not take account of the boy, but when this became an everyday routine, she was a little worried. But the boy did not make any effort to get any closer to her or even talk to her once.
All was well so far, until one day, while Suni was returning from her college, the boy took enough courage to approach her and talk to her. He just passed by Suni on his motorcycle and blocked her road. There was no way Suni could just walk away, so she had to stop, her heart was anxious about what would happen next.
The boy was hardly more than 21 years of age, but his appearance seemed to be like a spoilt brat. From the costly branded garments, which were still a rarity In Suni’s village, to his branded sunglasses and strong perfume, everything around him carried an obvious proof that he hailed from a wealthy background.
He killed the engine, and looked straight into Suni’s eyes which were scared and annoyed at the same time.
“I need to talk to you.” The boy did not waste much time on introductions.
“Why? I don’t even know you! Who are you? Why are you following me?” Sunni threw a lot of questions to him, defying her own courage.
“My name is Suresh. I am from the neighboring village. I had been following you because I wanted to see you. I couldn’t help it. Since the day I saw you, I can’t sleep; your face always lingers on my mind. I can’t live without you. I love you.” Suresh uttered as if he is reading some instructions from a manual. It was evident from his tone and attitude that he was used to be surrounded by people following his orders. It was as if he did not care for Suni’s answer at all.
Suni’s heart almost stopped. In her subconscious mind she was perhaps anticipating this, but when the time actually came to tackle the situation her brain froze. She didn’t know what to do. Meanwhile Suresh continued.
“I have enough money for both of us. You don’t need to study. We can get married and settle here. I will give you everything you need.” Suresh was clearly not aware of the famous punch line by MasterCard that money can’t buy everything.
Suni understood that it was going too far and she needed to intervene to close this chapter for once and for all. Summing up a little courage, she just uttered very quietly: “Look Suresh. I really do appreciate your feelings, but at this point I cannot really reciprocate it. I want to focus on my studies and I do not have time for this. Now, you have to excuse me as I need to reach home quickly.”
Suresh was clearly not happy with the outcome of their first conversation. He in fact anticipated and expected the opposite. He still tried to persuade her.
“I can drop you home on my bike, which is not an issue at all. See, you can continue your studies and I will not hold you back from anything. Just think about it”. He exclaimed in an orderly fashion.
“No, thanks. For everything. I gotta go now. Please don’t follow me anymore, it is not good.”
“I am not used to refusal, Sunaina. And I am not going to leave you. You better change your mind soon.” Suresh snapped, bitterly and coldly. Then he left all on a sudden, leaving Suni behind stranded, amidst the thick black arid smoke emitted by his vehicle.
Suni was relieved for a few days when she saw no sign of Suresh. She could now concentrate on her studies and she could fulfill her dream of being a doctor to attend to the ones who would really require the necessary medical services.
On one cloudy evening Suni had just reached home from the college. She literally froze when she saw Suresh sitting in the living room area, apparently absorbed in a heated and animated discussion with her father. She almost could have guessed what had happened without actually listening to a single word from the argument.
“You should have accepted my proposal. It would have been better for you and for her. I am leaving today, but you will hear from me soon as I will see the end of this.” These were the parting words from Suresh when he left after some time without waiting for an answer. Suni was petrified. Her father came out of the room, visibly infuriated, but he uttered no word of the episode that just took place except from a couple of scolding and alerting sentences: “You should have told me about this earlier. We have to be very careful as he is the son of a very influential person, let me know if anything happens further.”
Two weeks had passed without any incident. Suni almost forgot about the incident which had taken place in their house. But whatever happened next changed actually the course of lives of the little family forever.
Suni just stepped out of the bus when she noticed Suresh with his bike. And he was not alone as he had a couple of more ruffians to accompany him. Those two looked like they could go to any length if Suresh told them to. Suni was really scared. It was almost dark already and she was alone.
She summoned up all her mettle, though very little of it left within her, and started walking. She noticed through the corner of her eyes that the guys did not move an inch but they were still staring at her and perhaps one of them whispered something to the other two.
It was completely dark and a couple of streetlights were switched on, which instead of erasing the dark, intensified it. It was really difficult to see through, but Suni knew these streets like she recognized her palm. Even then she did not notice when the bike with the three riders came right behind her and stared honking too impatiently. She looked back. Before she could react or resist, one of them threw something aiming at her face and disappeared into the dark. She was not at all prepared but as a natural reflex she tried to guard her face with her face but couldn’t. All she remembered was a burning sensation that flew from her left hand to the right side of her face. She was writhing in pain as the vitriolic substance cut into her flesh and burnt her skin in a matter of seconds. She knelt down on the road, trembling fervently in fear and pain. She could not remember whether it was too dark outside or she was going blind. She became unconscious.
There was some passer-by who noticed her lying on the road and acted as the Good Samaritan to inform the local police authorities who in turn admitted her at the hospital and informed her parents. Despite clear evidences and her father’s pleading and begging, no arrests were made till the next three days, the reason of which was crystal clear to everyone.
Suni woke up three days later lying on a hospital bed, draped in bandages. All she remembered was the vivid pain and darkness. She did not recognize where she was, she did not remember why she might be here. Her right eye was under the covered protection of a bandage, and did not know if she could ever see through her right eye. She slowly touched her right hand to her face. The right half of her face was totally wrapped up. The pain was still unbearable. Then slowly it all came back to her. She could not speak, she could not cry, she felt unconscious once again.
Suni did not utter a single word for the next two days. Not even her parents, who had always been in the hospital, could converse with her. Her mind had shut the door and had flown away to somewhere far. The doctors had now confirmed that the right side of her face was completely burnt, so was her left hand. Her mother broke down when the protective cover was removed, and her father stood still, as if he was hit by a hammer but couldn’t express the pain. For the first time in five days, Suni spoke and demanded to bring a mirror, she wanted to see herself. She did not sob; she did not even blink, as if she was not feeling anything anymore. But a tear rolled down her left cheek, from the left eye, her good eye.
The doctors felt that Suni had apparently recovered enough, so she was discharged from the hospital. What followed was an absolute nightmare for the family of three. It took around three long months – which felt like years – to get the scars, the external ones, completely healed. The mental agony and trauma that accompanied it were beyond anything that anyone of them had felt before. Suni’s mother was almost bedridden and became physically half of what she was. Her father was silence personified. And Suni, she was inconsolable. She closed all the curtains of the windows and spent most of her days inside the room. Her friends came to visit her, but she never met anyone. She never wanted someone to see her like this. She could not bear the sympathy that might follow. The computer in her room had become the center of her world. Her parents asked her to go out but she did not want to; she did not want to go to college either. Her dream of becoming a doctor had been shattered. From an inspiration to the little kids of her village, she had become into a symbol of grief and sympathy. She even spoke barely to anyone. Nothing could distract her, nothing could cheer her up. She did not even know how she would spend the rest of her life like this. She started questioning her whole existence, and the purpose of her life.
One day, there was a series of unfamiliar knocks on the door. Suni’s father opened the door to find a couple of young girls and a man, all might be in their early twenties. They announced that they were from the nearby city and they wanted to meet her daughter. They were part of an NGO, ‘Hope’, which dealt in such cases. Their main motto was to keep the victims back on track of the mainstream life and seek justice for the criminals. But Suni refused to meet them. She did not even open the door. But the young bunch kept coming. Despite their age, they seemed pretty much experienced of having benn involved in many such cases. They knew it would take long to make Suni feel somewhat close to normal.
A couple of months of hard persuasion earned the gang their first successful break. Suni let one of the girls to voice their opinions from outside.
“Hi Sunaina. This is Kajal. I have two friends with me – Sheetal and Rounak. We all wanted to meet you”. The leader of the pack shouted from outside.
“Why? Why do you want to meet me?” The answer seemed like floating from another world.
“We wanted to tell you that we could help you. Why have you shut yourself in? Why are you torturing yourself whereas the criminal is roaming freely? If there is anyone who would be inside, it is him, not you.” Kajal’s voice was trembling with emotion.
“I don’t believe you, I don’t believe anyone anymore. No one could help me. It is my destiny. How could I possibly go outside? People will be scared of me, they will laugh at me, and they will stare at me with sympathy which I couldn’t tolerate.” Suni’s voice was completely emotionless, contrary to Kajal’s.
“If you can let me in at least for some time, we could really talk about it. We have already met many other people who had been through the same and thought similarly like you initially, but all of them changed their minds after they met us. Maybe you would too. Just let us in for once”.
There was absolutely no response from Suni.
“I know you can still hear us Suni. If you don’t want to have a conversation with us, its fine. But I know you have a computer inside, so please look us up over Internet and then decide whether to really talk to us or not”. Kajal was not ready to loose hopes, she is from ‘HOPE’ after all.
The curiosity grew the better on Suni. She could not help but browsed over internet. What she found was really incredible. This particular NGO was doing an amazing job for victims such as her. She could not really believe that it was really possible for her to lead a normal life once again. But the more she dug out the more she was astonished by her findings. After a few hours of relentless reading, Suni was eager to meet those guys from HOPE. She was hoping.
A couple of days later, Kajal came back once again. She was delighted at once to know that Suni has agreed to meet her. Suni met her with a veil hiding her face.
“Hey please. Don’t use that veil. Never. You are who you are. Don’t be ashamed of yourself.” Kajal said authoritatively. She stood up and remover Suni’s veil by herself. Her jaw became stronger when she saw her, but she remained silent.
“I..I..I am not sure what you are doing….” Perhaps for the first time in her life, Suni was completely at a loss to complete one sentence.
“Suni, see our plan is simple. We will bring the culprit to justice. We will not let him go so easily.” Kajal trumpeted.
“But,how? And that too after so many months?”
“You leave that on to me. We’ll run different campaigns against him. Through SMS, Facebook, Twitter – we will try everything. And I have a few contacts in the media so that route is also open.”
“I..I..I don’t know how to thank you.” Suni was still stuttering.
“Please don’t thank me yet. Let us first achieve our goal. I will stop until I see that bastard behind the bars. See, this is my card, it has my phone number. You can call me at any time in case you need anything.”
Kajal left, leaving behind a glimmer of hope for Suni.
Suni was not afraid any more, HOPE has induced courage into her.
She was not ashamed of herself, she is a changed person now.
She was the Suni everyone knew, all over again.
She looked out of the window, the light fell directly onto her face.
Her face was glowing.
Her eyes were sparkling. She could see some light, after a long dark tunnel.
A new world was beckoning.
What happened next??
Kajal and her team launched multiple campaigns against Suresh and he was ostracized the by people. People started showing their support in favor of Suni over social networking sites. SMS campaigns also did wonders.
Kajal also got in touch with her friends in media. Media pressurized the political parties to bring Suresh under justice. Under fire from both Media and people, the CM ordered an immediate arrest of Suresh.
Suresh was arrested a few weeks later by the local police and taken into custody. A fast track court was set up which found him guilty and put him behind the bars under rigorous imprisonment under section 326A and 326B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Suni completed her Medical studies and became a cosmetic Surgeon. She joined HOPE and nowadays helps victims of acid attacks with her profound knowledge of cosmetic surgery. She found immense solace in helping those in need.
She had become an inspiration and icon throughout her village and her state.
Kajal continued working for HOPE. She and Suni are great friends now.
My Two Cents:
Acid Attack or Vitriolage is a global issue and on the rise in India too. Sexual rejection and refusal in love are the two primary reasons that cause this heinous crime to take place. And unsurprisingly, mostly the women and girls are at the receiving end of the men’s ‘hurt male ego’. Uttar Pradesh has recorded the highest number of acid attack cases with 186 such incidents reported in the state out of the 310 cases registered across the country in 2014. A total of 208 people were arrested across the India for their alleged involvement in acid attack cases in 2014. Of these, 119 people were arrested in Uttar Pradesh only. So at least close to hundred criminals are still roaming free.
As far as the impact on the health is concerned, the effects of acid attacks are extensive. The acid can rapidly eat away skin, the layer of fat beneath the skin, and in some cases even the underlying bone.As a majority of acid attacks are aimed at the face, eyelids and lips may be completely destroyed, the nose and ears severely damaged. Victims in some cases can be left as completely handicapped.
Health may be recovered in some cases, thanks to the tremendous advancement of science and technology, but the psychological and social effect cause the more harm. Attack victims normally possess low self-esteem and suffer from anxiety and depression. Sometimes they victims are intentionally harassed which does not good to boost their confidence.
The social implications for the victims are enormous, especially for the women. Sometimes the close relatives leave them behind. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find suitable work for them. Unlike Suni, not every acid attack victim is so fortunate or has such a happy ending all the time. Mostly the future looks shabby for them. They are not only the victims of a horrendous crime, but the society denies accepting them, as if it is their fault. They are singled out and cornered. Neither they can bear the stigma nor can they live a normal life. Most of them hide themselves behind the shut doors and choose a secluded life. Many choose to end their lives too.
Indian acid attack survivor Shirin Juwaley founded the Palash Foundation to help other survivors with psycho-social rehabilitation. She also spearheads research into social norms of beauty and speaks publicly as an advocate for the empowerment of all victims of disfigurement and discrimination. In 2011, the principal of an Indian college refused to have Juwaley speak at her school for fear that Juwaley's story of being attacked by her husband would make students "become scared of marriage"
There are many other NGOs formed in India which offer the acid victims legal, medical, counseling and monetary assistance in rebuilding their lives. They also provide rehabilitation services for survivors while acting as advocates for social reform, hoping to increase support and awareness for acid assault.
The mindset of the society is changing, slowly but surely. These baby steps are nothing but a step forward to the better future of the society and the country.
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