A young law student falls victim to acid attack in Srinagar on Thursday, two women fall prey to acid attack in Siliguri on Friday. Earlier also there have been such incidents in New Delhi and other cities. What is scaring is the victims of acid violence are overwhelmingly women, and attackers often target the head or face in order to maim, disfigure and blind them. 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. At the same time, broad community awareness of violence against women is low. As a result, many such crimes continue with impunity. Emotional abuse has been gaining more and more recognition in recent years as an incredibly common form of domestic violence within the precincts of a home but emergence of such incidents in Jammu and Kashmir has serious ramifications especially for the law enforcing agencies which are already caught in the web of fighting crimes of various natures and for women it becomes more unsafe. Psychological abuse can erode a woman’s sense of self-worth and can be incredibly harmful to overall mental and physical wellbeing. Psychological abuse can include harassment, threats, verbal abuse such as name-calling, degradation and blaming; stalking; and isolation. Women who experience domestic violence overwhelmingly tend to have greater overall emotional distress, as well as disturbingly high occurrences of suicidal thoughts and attempts. Today, acid attacks are reported in many parts of the world. Since 1990s, Bangladesh has been reporting the highest number of attacks and highest incidence rates for women, with 3,512 attacks between 1999 and 2013. Weak rule of law, political corruption and cultural inequalities between gender, the easy availability of acids have contributed to increasing incidents of acid attacks in many countries. With low conviction rate the assaulters find it easy to commit the crime and escape.
