Muzzafarnagar (Uttar Pradesh): The police have arrested Babar Akhtar, the brother-in-law of the Shamli acid attack victim, and his friend Javed Iqbal, in connection with the acid attack on four sisters in Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, the brother-in-law is the main accused.
The police say the 23-year-old woman, who was attacked, had an illicit relation with her brother-in-law. When she threatened to make it public, he hatched a plot to throw acid on her and her sisters.
The woman was returning from work with her three sisters when they were attacked with acid by two unidentified men on a motorcycle at around 5 pm on the evening of April 2. The men allegedly used a water gun for carrying out the acid attack.The youngest sister, the police said, suffered maximum burn injuries.
The brother-in-law accompanied one of the victims to the hospital when she was brought to Delhi for treatment and was with the family throughout, the police said. The girl's eye has significantly recovered sight after being injured in the attack.
Attacks on women have topped the national agenda since December 2012 when a medical student was assaulted and raped by six men on a moving bus in Delhi. She died two weeks later of her injuries.
Public anger prompted parliament to toughen sex offence laws including doubling the minimum prison sentence for gang-rape, but lawmakers voted against making acid attacks punishable with life imprisonment. Acid attackers can be jailed for 8 to 12 years depending on the injuries inflicted, but the offence is bailable. Activists have asked that India should regulate the sale of an acid called 'Tezaab' which is designed to clean rusted tools but is commonly used in these attacks.
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