20-year-old woman attacks alleged stalker with acid in UP’s Unnao

The 24-year-old man sustained burn injuries on his nape, back, chest and left shoulder in the acid attack in Godamau village under Morawan police station.

A 20-year-old woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao district attacked a man with acid on Tuesday morning for allegedly stalking her police said.

Forty cases of acid attacks, mostly on women, were reported in Uttar Pradesh in 2018 after West Bengal, which has recorded the highest number at 50.(Sanjeev Verma/Hindustan Times)

The 24-year-old man sustained burn injuries on his nape, back, chest and left shoulder in the acid attack in Godamau village under Morawan police station. The police sent him to a hospital in state capital Lucknow after primary treatment in Unnao.

“Prima facie it is a case of one-sided love as the girl was not reciprocating the boy’s overtures. The boy had reportedly been stalking her,” Rajendra Rajawat, the station officer (SO) of Morawan police station, said.

“So far, there is no complaint from the victim’s side. After a complaint and investigations, we might make an arrest (of the attacker),” Rajawat added.

According to reports, Rohit Yadav was attacked by the woman at the dairy in Bhawaniganj village where he works as a cleaner. They said the woman was hiding in the dairy since the morning.

People present at the scene called the police emergency number and rushed him to a hospital in Unnao.

Forty cases of acid attacks, mostly on women, were reported in Uttar Pradesh in 2018 after West Bengal, which has recorded the highest number at 50, according to the National Crime Records Bureau’s (NRCB) latest report released earlier in January.

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court had earlier this month sought a reply from the central and state governments on a plea pertaining to compliance of the directions issued by the Supreme Court to regulate the sale and distribution of acid.

The order was passed by a division bench comprising chief justice Govind Mathur and justice Chandra Dhari Singh on January 10 on a PIL filed by Chhanv Foundation through its director Ashish Shukla.

The court had directed the respondents – state’s chief secretary, principal secretary (home), central secretary for home and central secretary for medical health – to file counter-affidavits (reply) at the earliest, listing the case for January 31.

The court directed the respondents to ensure compliance of the directions issued by the governments.