There appears to be no end to the ordeals of this 35-year-old gang-rape survivor who was attacked with acid outside her hostel in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. This is reportedly the fourth acid attack on her since 2011.
The incident took place on Saturday evening outside the woman's hostel when she had stepped out to fill water from a hand pump nearby, NDTV reports.
What's perhaps equally deplorable is that the woman was attacked despite the presence of an armed guard outside her hostel, that has been provided to her by the state government, the report adds.
"She was outside her hostel when someone came and threw acid on her. There are injuries to the right side of her face. The woman is in trauma. We will take strict action," Abhay Kumar Prasad, Additional Director General of Police, Lucknow, told the channel.
The family of the woman, who is a mother of two, alleges that the people responsible for the attacks on her are linked to the gang-rape accused.
Her ordeal
It was in 2009 that the woman was allegedly gangraped in her village in Rae Bareli over a property dispute, The Hindu reported.
According to NDTV, she was then attacked with acid in 2011 and 2013 on two different occasions.
Earlier this year, the woman, reportedly a Dailt, was forced to drink acid by two men when she was travelling on a train to Lucknow. Once the horrific incident came to light, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced police protection and a Rs 1 lakh assistance to her. He had also promised prompt action against the accused.
In another case of striking apathy on part of the state, three women constables were reportedly seen taking selfies near the woman when she had been admitted to a hospital after the attack on her in March.
They were all later suspended.