People's Democracy

Support Lacking for Acid Attack Victim’s Family

ON June 3, 2013, a delegation of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) visited the family of the acid attack victim Priti Rathi in Narela, Delhi. The delegation comprised the AIDWA’s national vice president Jagmati Sangwan and its Delhi unit’s working president Asha Sharma, among others.

According to a press statement issued on the day by AIDWA general secretary Sudha Sundararaman and its Delhi unit’s general secretary Sehba Farooqui, the delegation met the victim’s family and expressed anguish at the gruesome incident. It came to know that the support which the family needed from the administration and the police in their time of distress was sorely lacking. While Priti’s parents were with her in Mumbai, her younger sister was alone in Delhi with no police protection. While the Maharashtra government has “promised” a CBI inquiry, this cannot take effect until the union home minister issues the necessary order for probe. The AIDWA team also found that many expenses during this period were being borne by the family, such as Priti’s hospital bills and air ticket to come back to Delhi with her body.

The AIDWA has also decided to send a delegation to meet the union home minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde, and put forward the following demands:

1) Police protection for the family,

2) Immediate order for a CBI probe into the incident,

3) Reimbursement of expenses that the family has incurred on Priti’s treatment

4) Reimbursement of other allied expenses during this period, such as air ticket, etc.