By IANS
Dhaka : Worried at the increasing incidents of acid attacks, particularly against women and children, the Bangladesh government has asked officials across the country to work out a monitoring system to check the alarming trend.
“Young women were usually victims of acid attack, but grownup men and children are also attacked with acid these days,” Home Secretary Abdul Karim said in a letter to deputy commissioners in the country.
“Talk with teachers, lawyers, lawmen and important persons in society and work out a mechanism for constant supervision on the use of acid,” the letter said.
It also asked officials to prepare a tally of the people who use acid, New Age newspaper said Wednesday without giving the latest figures.
There is no accurate data on acid throwing cases either with the police headquarters or the home ministry. However, police has data saying that 73 women were attacked with acid in the six months from January-June.
Officials admitted that the actual number of acid attacks would exceed the number in official records.
Sulphuric and hydrochloric acid are the weapons of choice as they are commonly used for industrial purposes and easily available.
Police records show that women belonging to poor families are mostly victims of rape, acid assaults, and tricked into prostitution – even as those responsible walk free.
In 2002, the death penalty was introduced for the crime after the number of victims of acid attacks rose to nearly 500 a year.
There is also legislation to force businesses that use acid to store it safely. But 267 people were officially still attacked in 2005 and campaigners say it is because the law is ignored.
The Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association and the Bangladeshi Acid Survivor’s Foundation estimate that only 10 percent of attackers are ever brought to trial.
As elsewhere in the world, many cases go unreported because the victims fear reprisals.
According to the Asian Legal Resource Commission (ALRC), the reasons reported for acid throwing attacks include refusal of marriage offers, rejection of male advances, dowry disputes, domestic fights, property disputes, and even a delayed meal.
The physical effects of its use are hideous. It melts away skin and muscle, and can dissolve bones. Many victims have lost sight in one or both eyes. The scarring and disfigurement for all victims is permanent and horrific.
Victims are as young as eleven, and are mostly from poor families that cannot possibly afford the extensive surgery needed to repair the damage.
Furthermore, medical care for victims is extremely limited in Bangladesh. The Dhaka Medical College Hospital, one of the few public hospitals with a burns unit, has only eight beds for women patients and lacks modern equipment, trained nurses and even clean sheets, ALRC records.