Gulista acid attack: Ghaziabad woman still critical, cops clueless

Police have failed to get any leads in the acid attack on 21-year-old Gulistan in Ghaziabad

The Ghaziabad police have failed to get any leads yet in the acid attack on a 21-year-old woman in Ghaziabad on Tuesday morning. The woman suffered more than 50% burns and is still in a critical state in the ICU of Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. The woman, Gulistan, got engaged recently and was to get married after April.

The woman, Gulistan, got engaged recently and was to get married after April. (HT Photo)

She was sleeping inside her house on Tuesday morning when unidentified attackers poured a substantial amount of acid on her from a one-litre plastic can. She was rushed to MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad and later to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi in a critical state. She is being given strong antibiotics to prevent infections in her injured body.

“She is still in the ICU and is able to speak in a very feeble voice. She has not said anything about whether she was able to identify the attackers or not. The police had come to our house for investigation and inquired in detail about the incident. However, there are no leads and they are still questioning us about our whereabouts during the incident,” said Zahid, the victim’s brother.

“We suspect that there were two persons as they had come from behind the house and it is not possible for a single person to enter the house from there. However, we are still not clear about this,” he added. The family stays in an area under the Kotwali police station’s jurisdiction.

Police officials in Ghaziabad said they are still investigating the case and also scanning CCTV footage of a nearby camera in which two persons are seen moving on a bike around the time that Gulista was attacked.

“It could also be someone else who might have passed through the area. However, we are investigating the matter. The woman has not said anything substantial as she is hardly able to speak. Our teams are working and investigations are underway,” said Salmantaj Patil, superintendent of police (city).

Gulista recently got engaged to a man from Khurja and her elder sister Sanjeeda too got married on March 17. The attack took place between 2-3am on Tuesday when she was sleeping on a bed generally used by her father. He and Gulista’s brother had gone to the Ghazipur market to attend to their work and the attack took place after they had left.

On the family’s complaint, the police lodged an FIR under Section 326A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, etc) of IPC at Kotwali police station.