In Jammu And Kashmir, Women Acid Attack Victims Are Blamed For Their Plight Because We Live In A Patriarchal Society

• The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development informed the Rajya Sabha that seven acid attack cases were reported between 2019 and 2023 alone in Jammu and Kashmir, while 28 cases were undergoing trial during the same period.

• Acid attacks are only one of the forms of gender-based violence. This is due to a patriarchal society.

• An acid attack is more brutal than murder. You are reminded of the pain every hour, at every moment of life.

 Anisa Nisar, 26, sleeps without shutting one eye. Her other eye has been sealed from her own skin grafts. She wears glasses even when she is asleep at night. Over four years ago, when Nisar was returning home one evening in February from her work at a gas dealership, she felt she was being followed by someone and she spoke to her mother over the phone, who comforted her, asking the girl not to worry. But within a few minutes, she was sprinkled with acid that deprived the girl of vision in one eye and also peeled off her skin. But the media reporting around her case largely focused on the breakup of her engagement as a reason for the attack, while her current condition remains unknown to the wider world.

In one of the rooms of their modest home at the Saidpora area of Srinagar, which has been provided to Nisar’s mother by her maternal uncle after she sold her own house to meet the expenses on the treatment of her daughter, even in the afternoon, the girl is sleeping while her head remains covered under a quilt. Nisar says she wants to resume a normal life, but can’t go out to begin her studies. She had completed her class 12 before she faced the acid attack.

“The eyesight in my one eye is very weak, and as my upper eyelids were burnt after the attack; I wear glasses all the time to protect them from dust. I want to go out and study, but I face difficulty in moving around,” says Nisar, visibly surprised by the entry of a stranger into her room.

The case of Nisar is among several instances in Kashmir of women becoming victims of violence at the hands of men. Earlier this month, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development informed the Rajya Sabha that seven acid attack cases were reported between 2019 and 2023 alone in Jammu and Kashmir, while 28 cases were undergoing trial during the same period. But the use of terminology in the media coverage of the acid attack cases seems to equally blame the victims, who have faced “gender-based violence”. A 2013 news report on the incident of a school teacher who was attacked with acid in Srinagar’s Parray Pora locality described it as a case of a “jilted lover” turning to pouring acid on the woman.

Roshan Ara, assistant professor, Centre for Women’s Studies, University of Kashmir, says that acid attacks are only one of the forms of gender-based violence. “This is the outcome of a patriarchal society, and such incidents have been happening for a long time. We are talking of progress and AI revolution, but we can’t claim to be fully progressive until crimes against women are curbed.” “Such incidents have increased, but they have been there for centuries. I met a blind woman in Srinagar, who is now in her late 70s, and she told me she is a victim of an acid attack. In order to completely control such incidents, society has to undergo a paradigm shift. And also media has a role to play; we must stop blaming the victim for the crimes,” she notes.

Sehar Nazir, 32, a lawyer and an acid attack survivor, is critical of the way incidents of attacks on women have been reported. “The language used in the media reports is not appropriate. How can anyone justify a crime by using terms like jilted lover? Are we blaming the girl then? What gives any person the right to commit such a brutal act?” she says.

Sehar, who faced the acid attack in December 2014, after she had reached near her college in the morning in Srinagar, where she was studying law, adds, “An acid attack is more brutal than murder. You are reminded of your pain every hour, at every moment of life.

Sehar has undergone thirty-two surgeries and has lost vision in one eye. “One person dies every day due to an acid attack,” she says. “We have spent more than Rs 94 lakh on my treatment, and our family has also taken a loan. Despite that, I have not fully recovered,” she adds, while recalling that a boy who had been harassing her for some time threw acid on her as she was about to enter the college. “Both convicts are serving life sentences. I think there is a need for awareness so that the women don’t become victims of a patriarchal mindset,” she says.

After the acid attack, Sehar says her family members faced a traumatic experience, and her father also suffered a heart attack. She notes that the acid attack victims are not helped by the government. “The government failed to ensure adequate medical care, and I was advised to seek treatment in hospitals in Kashmir, where facilities and specialised care were severely lacking,” she says.

Legal experts and law enforcement agencies have to often remind the people and the media not to exacerbate the trauma of the families. In 2022, when Nisar faced the acid attack, police had to issue an advisory warning social media users against uploading or sharing images of the survivor after her photos were widely circulated. Advocate Mir Naveed Gul, penal lawyer who represented Nisar, emphasises that both journalists and social media users must exercise restraint and adhere to ethics while reporting about the acid attack cases or other crimes against women. “In many acid attack cases, people circulate photographs of the victim, which is a violation of a person’s right to privacy, which is a fundamental right,” he says.

Academic Roshan Ara notes that “families need to teach their sons to protect the dignity of women”. Crimes against women are happening as they are treated as mere objects, rather than individuals who may have aspirations and wishes.”

The acid attack on Nisar has changed the lives of the family forever. “My daughter is a bird who is in a cage. The incident has left a hole in my heart,” says Nisar’s mother, Shaheena, as tears ran down her face, while she talked about the condition of her daughter. “Life has lost its meaning for me. I don’t visit any of the marriage functions of my relatives, and one of the family members has to always stay at home to take care of Nisar,” says Shaheena, her head covered with a scarf.

Nisar’s father, Nisar Ahmad Chiloo, who crops a thin white beard, remains always worried about how to arrange money for her medical expenses. He collects money by visiting mosques while carrying along the photograph of his daughter and her medical prescriptions. “Why do women become the victims of violence?” asks Chiloo, stating that his daughter has undergone more than 30 surgeries, but her condition has not recovered fully.

Chiloo, a tailor by profession, says the family has spent over Rs 1 crore on her treatment in Chennai. “Doctors are focusing on treating only one eye while the other one remains closed. We have to visit the hospital again in Chennai after Eid, and we have been told that it will take 8-10 years for Nisar to fully regain her sight. It is financially very draining, and while some of the kith and kin helped monetarily, it has not been enough. I collect the money by visiting different mosques,” says Chiloo.

Advocate Naveed recalls that during the court proceedings, he sensed that the main convict, Sajid Altaf Rather, who earlier worked as a salesman at a medical store and is currently serving a life sentence, was attempting to play a “bluff” by offering to marry the girl to get some relief from the court. “I strongly opposed the plea because I had apprehension that the victim would be subjected to domestic abuse,” says Naveed, at the Srinagar district court, as he leafed through the voluminous judgement of the case.

Shaheena says it is unfortunate that women are becoming the target of domestic abuse. “Why are women facing such treatment? My daughter was engaged with the boy, but their family members started harassing us and demanding dowry, which was the reason the engagement was broken. But what has been done to my daughter, she cannot even step out of her home without help.”

Recalling the incident, when the acid was poured on her daughter, Shaheena says that when her neighbours informed her about the incident in 2022, she rushed out of her house, and was helped by local people to shift the girl to a hospital in Srinagar, from where she was later moved to Chennai for treatment. “The first two and a half months were terrible for us. We were literally sleeping on the roads in Chennai, where my daughter was undergoing treatment. She is now dependent on help from someone else. My younger daughter takes care of her, and she needs help even to go to the bathroom,” says Shaheena in a despondent tone.

Chiloo says that he has been unable to attend to his tailoring work as he remains busy in the hospital. “The court had directed that my daughter should receive the payment from the family of the convict, but we have not received even a single penny,” he says.