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    Acid Attacks in India

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    Deepashikha
    Acid attacks are a form of violent assault that predominantly target women and children in India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. They cause severe physical and psychological damage, often permanently blinding victims and denying them use of their hands. Acid attack survivors struggle with isolation and difficulties earning a living due to permanent scarring and disfigurement. They face rejection from their communities and families. Addressing the sociological factors that enable such violence, supporting victims, and changing cultural attitudes is needed to prevent further attacks and help survivors rebuild their lives.

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    Acid Attacks in India

    Uploaded by

    Deepashikha
    316 views7 pages
    Acid attacks are a form of violent assault that predominantly target women and children in India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. They cause severe physical and psychological damage, often permanently blinding victims and denying them use of their hands. Acid attack survivors struggle with isolation and difficulties earning a living due to permanent scarring and disfigurement. They face rejection from their communities and families. Addressing the sociological factors that enable such violence, supporting victims, and changing cultural attitudes is needed to prevent further attacks and help survivors rebuild their lives.

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    Acid attacks are a form of violent assault that predominantly target women and children in India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. They cause severe physical and psychological damage, often permanently blinding victims and denying them use of their hands. Acid attack survivors struggle with isolation and difficulties earning a living due to permanent scarring and disfigurement. They face rejection from their communities and families. Addressing the sociological factors that enable such violence, supporting victims, and changing cultural attitudes is needed to prevent further attacks and help survivors rebuild their lives.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    316 views7 pages

    Acid Attacks in India

    Uploaded by

    Deepashikha
    Acid attacks are a form of violent assault that predominantly target women and children in India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. They cause severe physical and psychological damage, often permanently blinding victims and denying them use of their hands. Acid attack survivors struggle with isolation and difficulties earning a living due to permanent scarring and disfigurement. They face rejection from their communities and families. Addressing the sociological factors that enable such violence, supporting victims, and changing cultural attitudes is needed to prevent further attacks and help survivors rebuild their lives.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    of 7

    Acid Attacks In India: A Sociological Perspective

    Introduction
    In a male dominated society like India, the journey of life for most of
    the women is plagued by supression, discrimination, exploitation and
    oppression at every juncture of their lives. A women has to face
    endless difficulties throughout her life. She even has to struggle for
    entering

    this

    world.1

    The male chauvinism in the Indian society, which is always on a


    high, tries to suppress or eliminate her in every possible way,
    either in the form of female foeticide or in the form of child marriage,
    and this suppression leads to more crimes against women. By the
    way of positive discrimination, lot is now being done to bring women
    at an equal footing in order to enable women to compete with men
    and give them the deserved respect and poistion in the society.
    However the sheer volume of human population in India makes it
    difficult

    for

    any

    scheme

    to

    work

    one

    hundred

    percent.

    Acid attack is one of the most heinous crimes against women. It not
    only inflicts physical injuries but also destroys the victim's entire life,
    leaving the scars of the heinous crime forever entrenched on the
    body and mind of the victim.
    This issue has significant socilogical relaveance, as every victim is a
    part of the society, and so is the criminal, the victim however never
    really goes back to having a normal life, while the criminal often runs
    scot free. The tolerance, acceptability, forward thinking and values
    often come to light when it comes to giving the victims their
    deserved social status and helping them to live a normal life.
    1 Taken from http://www.indiatvnews.com/news/india/know-five-most-heinous-acid-attackcases-in-india--28429.html?page=3 on November 25, 2014 at 8:08 pm.
    1

    Recently, the Supreme Court went to the extent of banning over the
    counter sale of acid in shops across India, but its direction is mostly
    on paper, as acid is still available to whosoever wishes to purchase
    it.

    What Is Acid Attacks?


    Acid Attack is a form of violent assault defined as the act of
    throwing acid or a similarly corrosive substance onto the body of
    another with the intention to disfigure, maim, torture, or kill.

    The victims of acid violence are overwhelmingly women and


    children, and attackers often target the head and face in order to
    maim, disfigure and blind. Acid has a devastating effect on the
    human body, often permanently blinding the victim and denying
    them the use of their hands. As a consequence, many everyday
    tasks such as working and even mothering are rendered extremely
    difficult if not impossible.
    Acid attacks rarely kill but cause severe physical, psychological and
    social scarring, and victims are often left with no legal recourse,
    limited access to medical or psychological assistance, and without
    the means to support themselves. It is not possible to provide the
    support that survivors require through a single intervention like a
    cleft palate surgery or the construction of a water-well. In order to
    rebuild their lives, acid survivors need long-term access to a holistic
    programme of medical support, rehabilitation, and advocacy that
    can only be provided by a local organization.

    Acid attacks are a worldwide phenomenon that are not restricted to


    a particular race, religion or geographical location. They occur in
    many countries in South-East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the West
    Indies and the Middle East, and there is anecdotal evidence of
    attacks in other regions.

    2 Taken from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_throwing on November 25, 2014 at 6:36 pm.


    3

    In many countries acid attacks constitute a hidden form of violence


    against women and children that often goes unreported, and the
    true number of horrific attacks taking place has only come to light
    after in-depth research by NGOs and other organizations working for
    social welfare.

    Why do the Attacks Happen?

    Victims of acid violence are attacked for many reasons, and the
    patterns of attack vary from country to country. Sometimes they
    result from domestic or land disputes, dowry demands or revenge. In
    many cases they are a form of gender based violence, perhpas
    because a young girl or woman spurned sexual advances or rejected
    a marriage proposal.

    As the mother of an acid attack survivor in Bangladesh told us,


    referring to the attack on her daughter by her new husband, The
    man to whom we handed over our beloved daughter with the hope
    that he would nurture her dream, has shattered it instead.
    Many children, men and the elderly are also attacked.
    The availability of acids used in manufacturing and processing
    cotton and rubber, for example, is a leading cause of attacks. Weak
    rule of law, political corruption and cultural inequalities between
    gender have contributed to increasing incidents of acid attacks in
    many countries. ASTI and its partner organisations are working to
    strengthen the rule of law to address acid and burn violence, while
    helping to raise awareness of the issue and ensure service delivery
    centres are available to support survivors.

    The Damage It Causes


    Acid attacks affect the lives of the victims severely. Various forms of
    physical and mental damage are observed. However the victims are
    not the only ones affected, there are various lives linked to that of
    the victim, the lives of these people are also adversely affected. The
    harm is so deep seated that it is nearly impossible to resume normal
    course of life.
    Physical Damage:
    Sulphuric acid is a highly corrosive strong mineral acid with the
    molecular formula H2SO4. It is a pungent-ethereal, colorless to
    slightly yellow viscous liquid which is soluble in water at all
    concentrations. Often, it is dyed dark brown during production to
    alert people to its hazards.
    Sulphuric acid has a devastating impact on the human body. Very
    often, survivors are permanently blinded and lose the use of their
    hands. In the meantime, on a day-to-day basis, survivors experience
    limited endurance and must deal with numerous discomforts such as
    skin tightness and severe itching.
    Psychological Damage:
    The psychological scars may be less visible but they are just as real
    and traumatic. Many survivors face severe isolation as they are
    ostracised from their communities, they practically lose the ability to
    earn a living along with much of the independence they once
    enjoyed. This causes additional difficulty. Getting a job becomes
    almost impossible due to the disfigurement, classifying, the Indian
    society can be said to have a high level of tolerance and people of
    all races and origins dwell in this land, however, the same does not
    6

    apply to acid attack victims. There is a common misbelief these


    victims are suffering from some contagious disease. More often than
    not, these victims are shunned by the society.
    In poor and backward countries where majority of the women
    depend on the income generated by their husbands, women
    survivors face little chance of rehabilitation, as marriage does not
    remain an option anymore and married victims are often divorced or
    left to fend for themselves by their husbands, and marital thereby
    condemning them to a life plagued by extreme and inescapable
    poverty, helplessness and lack of desire to live.
    Coming to terms with the trauma of the acid attack, the permanent
    scarring and disfigurement, and the loss of social acceptance are
    some of the biggest challenges a survivor will need to overcome.

    Despite these hardships and many others, many survivors can and
    do rebuild their lives. With the opportunity to learn new skills, and
    with encouragement and social support, survivors are helped to help
    themselves, to find meaningful jobs, and live in peace, probably give
    hope to other victims are create awareness about acid attacks.

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