CHENNAI : Despite finishing Bachelors in Business Administration in 2012 from a prominent college in Tiruchy, J Vijila (name changed) had not been able to land a decent job. Elsewhere, a mother-daughter duo stares at a similar fate, unable to make a decent livelihood. The similarity they share is that they are all acid attack victims.
Luckily for them, however, brighter days may be ahead with the Chennai District legal services authority identifying four acid attack survivors for rehabilitation, on Wednesday. Of the four, two of them, who are graduates, would be offered jobs as para legal volunteers, who will spread awareness of legal aid, for a daily wage of `500.
For the other two survivors, loans to start their own businesses would be arranged through banks. The survivors were identified through awareness camps. I Jayanthi, secretary of the district legal services authority, said, “We have ensured that survivors receive free treatment under the Supreme Court order for the welfare of acid victims, passed in April 2015. They also receive government compensation under the Tamil Nadu compensation scheme 2013 and legal aid,” while speaking to Express.
One of the victims, Lakshmi (name changed), while narrating her tale, said that her father poured acid on her while she was three years old. “After a verbal brawl with my mother in 1993, my father poured acid on my mother and me when we were fast asleep.”J Vijila is still recuperating from the acid attack since she lost her vital organs in the accident and is undergoing dialysis periodically.
Most of the cases that come to legal aid, are incidents that occurred decades ago.
Obtaining the copies of First Information Report from the police department and the order copies of the cases, have become a laborious process for the victims who are trying to claim compensation as per the state government scheme announced in 2013.