Jharkhand acid attack victim Sonali Mukherjee becomes mother, shares joy with husband, family
PATNA: When the birth of a baby boy to movie-star couple Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan is being excitedly discussed across the country, an acid attack victim in Jharkhand was full of joy on Wednesday after giving birth to a baby girl.
Sonali Mukherjee, 31, who had her face severely disfigured by an acid attack by three men in 2003, gave birth to a healthy baby girl in a hospital in her home town of Dhanbad, said her father Chandidas Mukherjee. “It is a proud moment for me to see my daughter happy with her husband and rebuild her life,” said Chandidas.
Chittaranjan Tiwari, an electrical engineer and Sonali’s husband, was full of joy. “We look forward to bringing up our daughter and contributing together to society. It is a very special moment for us,” he added. Tiwari and Sonali were married in April last year.
Sonali, who had suffered 70 per cent burn injuries in the acid attack by three men because she had spurned their advances, became a familiar face across the country when she appeared in Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) in 2012. The acid attack has left her blind in one eye. She won Rs 25 lakh as prize money on the special episode of KBC called ‘Doosra Mauka’ (second chance). It was during this TV programme that she had come to the attention of Tiwary, who became her husband later.
Sonali was chosen as one of the top 100 women achievers of India earlier this year and was invited to lunch with President Pranab Mukherjee on January 22.
Then a BA student of sociology honours in Dhanbad and an NCC cadet, Sonali was attacked with acid by three men – Tapas Mitra, Sanjay Paswan and Bhrahmadev Hajra, who lived near her home – when she was sleeping in her house one night in 2003. Her family fought a legal battle and the three men were convicted to nine years in prison, but they were granted bail by Jharkhand High Court after spending just a few months in jail.
The Jharkhand government appointed Sonali Mukherjee as a Grade-III clerk in the welfare department of the Bokaro deputy commissioner’s office February 2014. Her fight to ensure punishment for the three convicted men is still on.