Acid attack survivors fight for justice: Conference marks 3 years of Foundation
Telegraph | 14 March 2025
Acid attack survivors face isolation and alienation, sometimes even from family members who get scared and try to shirk responsibilities, said those who work with survivors.
They need support to fight back because the pain is both physical and mental, they said.
"A woman who has gone through an acid attack is seen as a burden. As it is, women in many families are considered burdens and an acid attack is a double whammy. We might want to believe that there is equality but in reality, it's still an unequal world," said Shaheen Malik, director, Brave Souls Foundation, an organisation that works with acid attack survivors for their education, health, surgeries, counselling, litigation and employment.
The foundation, which Malik started in Delhi in 2021, completed three years in Bengal last month.
The Delhi and Bengal units of the foundation jointly organised a conference in the city on February 22. It focused on issues of acid attacks and sexual and gender-based violence. The event brought together 50 survivors of acid attacks and their families.
The programme shed light on systemic failures and societal indifference that survivors face, amplifying their voices in the fight for justice and support.
"Acid attack survivors have to get treatment and medicines, which are expensive. Some of them require multiple surgeries and medicines worth thousands of rupees. They are not able to arrange the funds and the compensation is not always enough," said Malik, herself a survivor.
There are acid attack survivors who have lost their vision because of the attack.
"They want to fight back but to do that they need support, which is hard to get. Sometimes family members fear there may be another attack or an attack on a family member. Their fear mostly stems from perpetrators being out on bail instead of serving punishment," said Monisha Pailan, an activist with the Calcutta unit of Brave Souls Foundation and a survivor.
Pailan said psychiatric counselling is mandatory for acid attack survivors, something that many women do not realise on their own.
"They don't understand they are in trauma. When we speak to them at length and ask them if they attend weddings, they say they are afraid a child might be scared to see them. But not going out is not the answer or solution. It requires months of counselling to be able to return to normal life," she said.
At the conference, Pailan said the reasons for acid attacks are numerous — from a woman giving birth to a girl child to a property dispute or a woman rejecting a marriage or love proposal.
"During the conference, we emphasised the need for harsher punishment to restore survivors' confidence. Employment is also crucial for their reintegration into society," said Malik.
Support has to come from society, too, which tends to alienate them further, said Malik.
"Our faces may be a bit different but we are not aliens," she said.