BENGALURU: A public hearing on women who suffered burn injuries due to their husbands setting them afire or driving them to do so turned out to be an emotionally charged one with the victims showing keenness to get better jobs and good education for their children. The need to have a comprehenstive burns policy in the state was also emphasised.
The meet, organised by NGO Aweksha in its premises on Myrtle Lane. on Wednesday had ten burns survivors offering testimony on their ordeal before plastic surgeries and treatment facilitated their recovery.
Setting the tone for the event, K Satya of Aweksha said, "Many of the burns victims are not due to stove bursts as claimed by them initially to police but are deliberate and calculated."
Burns survivor Gowri recalled the sexual violence she was subjected to by her husband even after the birth of three kids. "My only goal is good education for my three daughters," she said.
Sangeetha, a Bengaluru native, said that after her husband passed away due to jaundice, she was left with two children. "His family refused to support me. A person I met promised to take good care of them and so I married him. However, it was continuous torture and so I decided to end my life on my own by setting myself on fire," she said.
Vasantha, a native of Kolar, realised her Bengaluru-based husband was having affairs with multiple women. "I questioned him about it and in the midst of furious arguments, he threw a burning lamp at me," she recalled. Chandrakala's husband poured kerosene on her from behind and set her on fire when she was pressing clothes at home, she recalled.
Burns policy need of the hour
Donna Fernandes, a long-time women's rights activist and president of Aweksha, said, "It is absolutely imperative to have a burns policy so that it offers a framework and guidance for all. We have been working for three years on it and require government support to make it happen." She urged the state government to upgrade facilities provided at other government burns wards across Karnataka on the lines of that at Victoria Hospital.
Priyanka Mary Francis, Director of Women and Child Department, said a proposal to ready more One Stop Centres (OSC) is in the offing in the state whereby victims can avail all services under one roof instead of running from pillar to post. Pramila Naidu, Chairperson of Karnataka State Commission for Women, assured all support for the policy. She also stressed the need to file a strong FIR with correct facts so that justice can be rendered.
Dr Ramesh K T, Head of the Department of Burns at Victoria Hospital, said some kind of compensation must be provided in the case of any kind of disfigurement caused due to burn injuries rather than the rule of providing it only for those who suffer 40% disability and above.