CHENNAI: A 29-year-old woman lost her eyesight partially after her estranged husband hurled hydrochloric acid at her following a chase on a street in Pallavaram.
Sources said the woman lost 50% vision in the right eye and is unable to open the left eye following the attack.
The victim alleged though she had, on many occasions, tried to register complaints against her husband, Mohamed Ali (31), hailing from Kundrathur, for domestic violence prior to the incident, the police allegedly persuaded her to “strike a compromise” without formally registering a complaint.
The Pallavaram police said Ali, working as a tea master in Kundrathur, fell in love with the woman, a sales executive in a private firm, some six years ago, and later married her with the consent of both their families. They have a four-year-old daughter.
The woman later got separated from Ali and moved into her parents’ home along with her daughter, as Ali, addicted to alcohol, started suspecting her fidelity, quarrelling with her frequently. Ali, who was often unemployed, would visit the child on weekends.
Recently, the woman had been seeking a divorce, but he did not agree to it. Police inquiries revealed Ali had visited the woman’s parents’ house in Kundrathur around 10.30 pm on Sunday night when the woman’s parents and the child had gone to Madurai for a family function. During an argument, he allegedly refused to grant the divorce and forced her to continue the relationship.
When the argument heated up, he allegedly took the acid cleaner from the stationery he bought for the house, chased her on the street and hurled it at her before fleeing the spot. The passersby rushed the woman to a private eye hospital in Poonamallee. She later lodged a complaint with the Pallavaram police.
Speaking to reporters following the incident, the woman said her job in logistics usually entailed speaking to customers, which allegedly made Ali insecure. “I attempted to get away when he grabbed me by the hair and hurled the acid on my face, saying it’s because of this face that you can keep a job, you will no longer have it,” she said, adding he would frequently illtreat her and the child, once allegedly threatening to set the child on fire if the woman did not give him money to buy booze.
“When we were together, he would frequently hit me until I bled, and after a point, he began to strangle me if I asked him when he would start going to work. Last week, he had asked me to come to his house in order to get a letter from him agreeing to a mutual consent divorce. When I went there, he assaulted me the entire day, hit my head against the wall and plucked chunks of my hair,” the woman said. Acting on a tip-off, the police arrested the man from his house in Zamin Pallavaram and booked him under Sections 124(1) (acid attack) and 126 of the BNS. He was lodged in Puzhal prison.
When TNIE contacted the hospital, authorities said the victim’s right eye is 50% damaged, while the left eye is yet to open and is under treatment. “We are still assessing if a part of her vision could be restored. She has no acid injury on her face or body,” they added.