The recently released data of the National Crime Records Bureau, 2017, reveals shocking information about acid attack cases in Kerala.
According to the NRCB report, at 13 cases each, Kerala and Odisha had the fourth highest number of acid attacks reported in 2017, following Uttar Pradesh which topped the list with 56 cases, West Bengal which came second with 54 cases and Delhi which had 14 cases. A total of 244 acid attack cases were recorded across the country in 2017.
Interestingly, other south Indian states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, recording only five and four cases respectively. Andhra Pradesh recorded a total of nine acid attack cases in 2017 while Telangana saw three cases being reported.
Incidentally, Kerala recorded the same number of acid attack cases in 2016, and had again ranked fourth highest in the country. In both 2017 and 2016, nine of these acid attacks were against women.
Over the years, reports of shocking acid attacks have emerged from the state. In January 2019, a 35-year old man was arrested for throwing acid on a woman and her four children in Pambakuda in Ramamangalam village in Ernakulam.
According to reports, the accused man - identified as Renny - threw acid at the woman, Smitha, and her four child from outside a broken window of their house while they were sleeping. Renny was having a live-in relationship with the mother. One of the children - who was studying in the class 7 - suffered serious injuries to her face following the attack.
In August 2018, a 32-year old woman living in Karassery, Kozhikode, suffered serious burns to her face after her husband reportedly flung acid on her face.
The attack happened when the victim, Swapna, was returning home after office hours. Her husband, identified as Subhash had kept the acid ready in a bottle and had thrown it on her when she returned. He also stabbed Swapna with a knife after the attack.
In April 2018, a 45-year old woman from Malappuram was arrested following the death of her husband who sustained serious injuries due to an acid attack.
The accused Subaida was a native of Ummathur, near Kodur in Malappuram. Her husband Basheer was admitted in a critical condition to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. He succumbed to his acid burns two days later.
In 2017, a woman who had been married for 10 years sustained serious injuries on her right breast and body after her husband attacked her with acid in an alleged case of dowry harassment. The victim, identified as Dhanya Krishnan, a native of Punalur, had two children from the marriage. The accused husband, 43-year-old Binukumar, went absconding soon after the incident.
Dhanya had said that been subjected to harassment over dowry ever since her marriage, but had kept the violence hidden as she did not want her family to be involved.
The crime was reported to the Punalur police from the Taluk hospital. On June 10, they transferred the case to Chengannur police. “The search for the accused has been intensified. We couldn’t find anybody at their home when we went there yesterday,” Chengannur police said.