The Weekly
Observer Volume 14 | Issue 11
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Freed 6 years early to terrorize wife EXCLUSIVE Kimaya Varude An acid attack victim’s husband threatened to kill her after he was released early from jail. On June 25, 2003 at 9.30 p.m, Hanumantharaju poured a mug full of sulphuric acid on his wife, Jayalakshmi, when she was watching television at her rented house in Huliyaru, Tumkur. At that time, Jayalakshmi, 34, was with her two children, Sheela, 16, and Yashwanth, 14. The neighbors rushed her to Kumar Hospital initially but they did not admit her as it was a police case. She was then taken to General Hospital, where she was admitted and the doctors filed a police complaint on her behalf. She said, “I had suffered 90% burns with very low chances of living. The acid burnt my face, both my hands and half body. I was hospitalized for a year.” She has undergone 14 surgeries of which five alone were for her face. Hanumantharaju was arrested seven days after the complaint was registered by Tiptur Police Station. The case started in 2004 and in 2005 he was sentenced to 14 years in jail and fined Rs. 10,000. Six months ago he was released by the jail authorities and he has started
Jayalakshmi, acid attack victim after the 2003 incident threatening Jayalakshmi again. She said, “One month before the incident, he had warned me that he would throw acid and kill me. When I went to register a complaint at Tiptur Police Station, they turned me away saying that they will register one only when he throws acid at me.” Advocate Ramananda of Karnataka High Court said, “There is no minimal term that a prisoner has to fulfil before being released.” “Corruption and politics are the reason for such behavior of the police. If they had registered a complaint and caught hold of him, I would not have been like this. Since April 2014, he has been threatening to kill me by saying things like he will try something new to finish me. Last month he barged into my house at 12 a.m. ‘How did you dare to live a normal life even after I did such a cruel thing to you?’ were his words,” she added. Draped in a golden-
brown sari and sipping a cup of milk, Jayalakshmi was teary-eyed as she recalled old days. Her relative told The Weekly Observer, “He always suspected her of infidelity and used to come home drunk. He used to hit her every night and once he attacked her with a blade. He also tried to burn her by pouring petrol on her. It was only then that she decided to move out with her children.” “Acid had completely disfigured my face. If you would have come to take my interview five years ago, you would have run away,”
said Jayalakshmi, wiping her tears. Jayalakshmi got Rs. 1,80,000 as compensation from the state government only when she approached through Karnataka Rajya Mahila Ayog, a NGO that works for women welfare. She said that she was promised Rs. 2,00,000 but she received Rs. 20,000 less. “I did not get any compensation from the government while I was fighting the case as the new rule to provide victims with compensation came only last year. I never got a government job, though I tried through various organizations,” she
Long trials Haseena Hussain, an acid attack victim who survived the attack on her in 1999, had to wait for nine years for justice. “I have undergone 35 surgeries till now. My battle began when I got justice.” Sushma Varma, trustee of the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women, said, “The acid attack cases till date from 1999 in Karnataka range between 85 to 90 cases. Like any other court case, these cases also have their long trials, and delays. If we ask for speed up of these trials, there is a possibility of compromise in the quality of the trials and the judgments as they come under fast track courts. We have to find out
Sushma Varma, trustee of CSAAW some other way to fasten up these processes.” According to Law Commission report to Supreme Court in 2009, Karntaka reported 35 cases between 1999 and 2004; by the end of 2007 these attacks had increased to 60 cases. In the past three years this number has gradually reduced to six cases in 2010, three cases in 2011, two cases in 2012 and one
said. Jayalakshmi now lives in Huliyaru, Tumkur district and is a social worker with Yojana Abhivrudhi Sansthe, an NGO in Tumkur. Hanumanthraju now lives with his son in Kudur, in Magadi taluk after he was released from jail which is right next to Jayalakshmi’s village. “I used to wear veil every day because I was afraid my children would get scared. Every morning when I see myself in the mirror I could see it happening again. For the past eight years, my husband was having timely food and I had to struggle to get food for my children,” she said. case since January 2014. The report also stated that these figures do not include victims that do not report their case because they fear further violence or being socially stigmatized. In most of these cases Hydrochloric and sulphuric acid were used and all the victims were women. The victims in Karnataka were very young women between 16 and 25 years of age, and were attacked by men known to them. The Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAAW) reported that the number of cases added up to 53 by 2006 in Karnataka and verdicts were given in only 9 of these 53 cases.