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Download PDF Young bride Nila’s dreams have been shattered the night her husband poured down acid on her, burning her face, hands and other parts of the body.
The barbaric act has landed the critically injured 18-year-old girl in a hospital bed of Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) with no hope of taking the Secondary School Certificate examinations due next month.
Nila cannot think of any explainable reason why the man who tied the knots with her a year ago would even do such an act that would put her life in danger.
Her parents arranged the marriage with Akbar Hossain, 30, a Saudi Arabia expatriate back then.
“It wasn’t for dowry and we didn’t even quarrel with each other. I know he is a short-tempered man. He got angry with me for some reason, but I don’t understand why,” said a baffled Nila while groaning with agonising pain in her bed.
This teenage schoolgirl from Baro Bashoria village in Sirajganj had a passion for performing arts and cherished a dream of becoming established in the field someday. This talented performer used to win awards from her school every year for her outstanding performance in acting, singing, poem recitation and dance.
“The man to whom we handed over our beloved daughter with the hope that he would nurture her dream, has shattered it instead,” Nila’s mother said with a blank look.
“Akbar seemed to be a polite man when we arranged our daughter’s marriage with him. Who could’ve guessed that a man like him could do something like this?” the mother said while talking to this correspondent at the ASF hospital.
“On February 19, my husband got very upset at me as I wanted to go to my parents’. I tried to settle the matter, but he didn’t calm down. After we had the dinner, he left for the market, but I didn’t know why. He didn’t even come to bed later,” recalled Nila.
“I woke up around midnight and found my husband sitting on a chair with his eyes bloodshot out of anger. I asked him what had happened, but no response. He just walked up to me with a glassful of liquid and poured it down over my head,” Nila said reminiscing the dreadful night.
“I Suddenly felt an excruciating burning sensation over my entire face and my arms, realising that it was acid. My husband rushed out of the house right after that,” she added.
“I received the first treatment 20 hours later after my father brought me to Dhaka Medical College Hospital [DMCH], Nila said.
She was later transferred to the ASF hospital. Doctors at ASF hospital said her face and eyes have been damaged badly and 20 percent of her body is burned in the acid attack. They fear she might even go blind.
“Nila came to our hospital in a critical condition with deep burns that involved her vital organs. Though we work with acid victims, we’ve seen only a few patients with such major burns,” said Dr Sanjoy Biswas of ASF.
A large number of women and children fall victim to acid violence every year. According to an ASF report, on an average, 221 women and children fall victim to acid violence every year and the main causes of the violence are dowry, refusal of love proposal and land disputes.
According to the report, the number of persons attacked with acid came down to 187 in 2007 from 234 in 2000 and 349 in 2001. In 2006, the total number of acid victims was 221, the report stated.
The acid violence incidents saw a sharp rise in the 90s and started to decline in the decade that followed — thanks to the awareness campaigns, legal and rehabilitation assistance programmes taken up by different government and non-government organisations (NGOs).
The situation improved in 2002 when the government passed two acts for curbing and preventing the acid violence and started to work together with the NGOs.
The DMCH burn unit still treats 2 to 3 percent acid victims out of around 1,400 burn patients every year.
The number of acid violence has been declining gradually due to the enactment of the new laws and the campaigns of the government and the NGOs, said Dr Shamanta Lal Sen of Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit at DMCH.
However, more concerted efforts are necessary to stop the acid violence once and for all, he added.
Ronald W Hiles, a plastic and reconstructive Surgery consultant who has been a visiting the country for the last 25 years and conducting plastic surgery free of charge, said, “Since 2002, the acid violence has reduced by 60 percent.”
Campaign against acid violence achieved significant success as it was handled from different angles and the government, the NGOs and the media — all worked together to resist the violence, said Ronald noting that the violence is still taking place in the country.
“I think people who are throwing acid don’t know what they are doing. They are doing it either from jealousy or from envy or greed. In developed countries, such types of violence is unusual and whenever I come across these acid victims, I become upset because it’s not an accident, it’s man-made and it shouldn’t happen,” Ronald added.
Referring to Nila’s sufferings, Ronald said in an emotion-choked voice, “She had all her life before her, but that has changed now. One more acid violence is one too many and we want no more of it.”
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 pm
why is this information so vague? where’s the timeline on these occurences? when did this terrible incident occur and where? what is the name of the husband in question? can we see a photograph so that we may know the face of such a criminal who should regardlessly be given capital punishment? how is nila doing right now?
have thse information been left out on pupose or is this story done just to create some sympathy. i’d like to know all.