CHENNAI – Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah on Monday visited a hospital to enquire about the condition of a 27-year-old Kashmiri woman who was attacked with acid in Srinagar and brought to Chennai for specialised treatment.
Accompanied by Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian, Abdullah met the family members of the woman, who has lost her eyesight and whose face was disfigured in the attack.
Three people have been arrested for the acid attack on February 1, which triggered a massive public outrage. The case is coming up for trial on March 8.
Abdullah, who was in Chennai for the release of a book of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, visited the survivor and spoke to the doctors attending to her.
The Tamil Nadu health minister assured Abdullah, the National Conference vice president, that he would personally look into the matter and do whatever is best for the woman.
Abdullah handed over a cheque to the family as his personal contribution towards her medical expenses.
The woman has undergone six surgeries so far. In addition to eye surgeries, three skin grafting procedures have been done to reconstruct her face.
The Jammu and Kashmir Police recently filed a 1,000-page charge sheet against the three people — Sajid Altaf Rather and Mohammad Saleem Kumar alias Tota, and a juvenile.
The police have prayed for treating the juvenile as an adult as per the amended Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, whereby youngsters in the age group of 16-18 can be tried under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) if they are accused of heinous crimes.
The accused were charged under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 326-A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) of the IPC.
“We have filed a water-tight charge sheet and we will make a plea to the court for a daily hearing in this case. If a daily hearing is not possible, we would request the honourable court for a speedy trial,” Senior Superintendent of Police (Srinagar) Rakesh Balwal had said after filing of the charge sheet.
