A man poured acid over his wife, on International Women’s Day, after she gave birth to a baby girl.
32-year-old Siraj Biwi reportedly threw acid over his wife, 25-year-old Farah Biwi, while she slept – the attack was said to be motivated by her ‘failure’ to produce a son and fulfil her dowry.
Farah from Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh was left with burns on her face, hands and stomach and is currently being treated in hospital.
The couple have been married for eight years and had produced two daughters. Police are now looking for Siraj, with the intention of arresting him on the charge of voluntarily causing grievous hurt.
Farah stated:
After the birth of the first girl only, my in-laws started to target me as if I deliberately delivered a baby girl. The harassment kept intensifying as time passed by.
For the past year, things had become much worse. Under pressure from his family, my husband would ask me to get more money from my parents and give it to them.
When I didn’t oblige, they started to beat me up. It come to a pass when my second daughter was born.
I was trying to live with the daily dose of torture and thinking about the well being of my daughters – if I part ways from the man, who would provide for my two daughters and myself?
But I could never imagine he would go to the extent of pouring acid on me. I won’t forgive him for this, ever.
You can learn more about Farah’s ordeal in the footage below:
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Farah’s elder sister, Nusrat Jahan, added:
Farah was married to Siraj, a labour contractor, eight years ago.
However, for the past year, differences between them had arisen after he started demanding dowry.
The birth of the second girl severed as the trigger for the latest incident.
Sadly, Farah is not the only woman to have been attacked in this viscous manner – according to Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI), 300 attacks were recorded in India in 2016. ASTI believe the true number of attacks per year may well be over 1000.
Over recent years, the Indian government have attempted to tackle the issue by passing new acid specific legislation, with a particular focus on control of the sale of acid, as well as compensation for survivors.
Implementation of this new legislation varies in consistency from one state to the next.
Disturbingly, 76 per cent of acid attack cases involve the perpetrator being known to the victim; such as the case between Farah and Siraj.
The UK has one of the highest rates of recorded acid attacks per capita than anywhere else in the world, with 454 attacks in London during 2016 alone.
Men are more likely to be victims of acid attacks in the UK than women, with many of these attacks being gang related.
Our thoughts are with Farah and her daughters as the young mother receives treatment for her injuries.
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.