Acid attacks on the rise as a form of revenge

India
Acid attacks on the rise as a form of revenge
By Gyan Varma, Indo-Asian News Service, Nov 20, 2006 - 1:42:02 PM

New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS) Suman, a mother of three, had acid poured on her and was also forced to drink the burning liquid in an act of blinding revenge by her former lover in Delhi last week. It was the latest in an alarming trend that psychiatrists say is due to the psychopathic tendencies of the spurned man.

In the past six months, around seven acid attacks have taken place on young women in Delhi and the national capital region, including in the fast-growing suburban towns of Gurgaon and Ghaziabad.

'It is a sort of revenge by the perpetrator. The root cause of such an extreme step could be deep-seeded hatred for the woman. In most cases, the doer is aware of the consequences of the attack and carries it out in a planned manner,' said T.P. Jindal, senior psychiatrist at the Indira Gandhi E.S.I. Hospital.

'The cases of acid attack in Delhi are increasing because it is the easiest way of taking revenge and the damages are always lethal,' said Jindal. In most cases the man suffers from an inferiority complex and a sense of insecurity, which play a major role in forcing him to take the step.

'The aggressors suffer from psychopathic tendencies because of which they are not able to listen to their rational mind and control unstable thoughts,' added Jindal. 'The men always want everything to be easily available to them.'

In most cases, the man carries out the attack in a well-planned manner. 'The aggressor watches the movements of the victim for a few days before carrying out the attack. Due to the personality disorders that they suffer from there is little or no sense of fear from the law or punishment,' said Jindal.

In the case of Suman, her former lover Umesh cornered her inside her Punjabi Bagh house in West Delhi on Nov 15 and poured acid on her, leading to her death. Suman, 35, had left her husband two years ago and eloped with Umesh. After living with him for one-and-a half years, Suman returned to her husband Nagendra. This led an angry Umesh to plan his revenge.

In another acid attack, a Class 10 student suffered extensive burns after a fellow student threw acid on her after she opted out of their relationship. The 17-year-old victim was on her way to school in Gurgaon when she was attacked Oct 27.

In a similar horrifying act, 16-year-old Lakshmi had acid thrown on her when she turned down the marriage offer of Guddu. According to police, the 28-year-old had confessed that he wanted to take revenge by throwing acid on her face.

'In all the cases, the aggressor was suffering from either extreme impulsive behaviour or personality disorders,' said Deepak Raheja, a practising psychiatrist and director of The Hope Foundation.

The accused in most cases suffer from unstable thoughts and moods, self imagined pain, frustration and vengeance. 'They carry out the attacks in such a stage,' he added.

Their personality disorders make them unable to handle emotional problems, he said.

'They feel deceived and that the amount of emotional investment made in the relationship has not been worth it. This sense of being cheated, combined with insecurity and lack of confidence, leads to such attacks,' he added.

Psychiatrists say the problem of acid throwing is prevalent in Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states. Due to the increasing number of such cases in Karnataka, the state government had recently drafted a rehabilitation package for victims of acid attack.

The package aims to reduce the impact of the disability and provide medical, vocational, social and psychological rehabilitation.

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