Acid attack on women: Accused woman summoned for questioning

The woman being questioned is a former friend of the victim and had been allegedly pressuring the victim to continue with the friendship which was snapped a year ago.

A day after a 23-year-old woman and five others, who were travelling with her in a shared- auto, had acid thrown on them, the police have summoned the woman who allegedly planned the attack and got two men to carry out the attack.

Sahibabad residents on Wednesday protested against police laxity in the case.(Sakib ALi/HT Photo)

The incident took place at the Mohan Nagar intersection on Tuesday morning.

The woman being questioned is a former friend of the victim and had been allegedly pressuring the victim to continue with the friendship which was snapped a year ago.

The victim continues to remain in the ICU of Safdarjung Hospital after suffering 25% burn injuries on her face, shoulders and back. Two bike-borne assailants had thrown the acid in a polybag on the victim while she was seated in a moving auto.

“We have called the accused woman for questioning and she has denied the allegations. Our teams are trying to make headway by looking at the footage from CCTV cameras installed on the route which the victim took on Tuesday. If she is found guilty, she will be arrested. A hunt is also on for the two bikers,” Akash Tomar, superintendent of police (city), said.

The victim’s family on Tuesday lodged an FIR under section 326a of the IPC (punishment for acid attack) against the 24- year-old woman who stays in Delhi.

Upon getting the information that police called the accused woman for questioning, locals and social activists from Sahibabad reached the police station and demanded her immediate arrest. They also tried to force the police to make them speak to the accused woman but were denied permission.

“The woman had been following and harassing my daughter for the past one year but my daughter snapped all communications with her. They were friends earlier but the accused woman got possessive and I had to get my daughter’s jobs and mobile number changed. Still, the woman pursued her and finally I had to make her sit at home for the past seven to eight months,” the victim’s father said.

He added that the accused woman harassed his daughter at her various offices and even took admission in the management college where his daughter was studying. He said that he even went to the house of the accused in Delhi and met her mother but the situation remained the same.

“My daughter took admission in an MBA course and later the accused woman also took admission there. During their days of friendship, they were on phone for six to eight hours a day and we objected to this. I got her to change twice but the accused woman followed her everywhere. We lodged two complaints with Sahibabad police but they did nothing,” he said.

On the other hand, the family of the accused woman claimed innocence and denied all allegations against the woman accused of planning the acid attack.

“If my sister is accused of hiring goons to throw acid, the police must probe her call details to know if she is involved. There were some altercations between the two and police complaints were filed by both against each other,” the elder sister of the accused woman said.