BENGALURU: “Her sister’s wedding is just a week away, on May 7 and 8. We are forced to prepare for it in deep grief without Aasha (name changed), who had done all the preparations and was all excited about it,” cried Sundresh, the uncle of acid attack victim Aasha.
“Being a vegetable vendor, her father had done his best to get a good education for his two daughters and a son. Aasha’s elder sister is a software engineer, while Aasha too had done her BE and MBA and was working at a finance company. She wrote the SBI banking exam recently,” her uncle said.
“The accused, Nagesh, had rented the house of Aasha’s grandmother opposite Aasha’s house. He was staying with his elder brother and parents. A few years ago, when Aasha was still studying, he had approached her mother and had expressed his interest in marrying Aasha."
“But her mother had declined the proposal, saying Aasha was still studying and they wouldn’t get her married so early. She had told Nagesh’s elder brother, who had advised the accused not to force Aasha when her family was not interested."
"They later vacated that house and rented out another house nearby. Nagesh had approached Aasha at her office 25 days ago and proposed to her. Aasha told him that she did not know him and was not interested in marrying him,” Sundresh said.
“On Wednesday, Aasha’s father was going near her office near Sunkadakatte Circle to get a gas cylinder. Aasha too left home early so that she could get dropped by her father,” he said.
Aasha had picked her sister’s wedding outfit
“They reached near her office at 8.30 am, and her father had moved a little ahead when he got the call saying someone had poured acid on Aasha. Her father called me immediately, and I rushed to the spot.
When I reached there, we could see that her dress and skin were burnt and fumes were coming out of her body. We rushed her to nearby Lakshmi Hospital, from where she was shifted to St John’s Hospital,” he added. “Aasha had selected the wedding clothes for her sister.
She too had a proposal, but had said she would enjoy her sister’s wedding first and then think about her wedding. But now, Aasha is lying at ICU and we are forced to go ahead with her sister’s wedding,” Sundresh said.