MADURAI: A day after an unidentified assailant poured acid on two college girls at Tirumangalam in the district, the special teams probing the incident detained four persons on Saturday.
Though police did not reveal the identity of the detained persons, sources said that the attack could have been a case of mistaken identity. The teams were interrogating the four persons, sources added.
Meanwhile, the two college girls were responding well to the treatment at the Government Rajaji Hospital here. A team of four doctors was monitoring the condition of the victims round-the-clock, hospital sources said.
U Meena (17), of Chinnapulampatti and a first year BA English Literature student at a constituent college of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU), was walking along with her senior S Angala Eswari (18) when a bike-borne man poured acid.
Sources said that when Meena tried fend off her attacker, the acid splashed on to Eswari as well. Meena sustained burns on her face and shoulder while Eswari suffered minor injuries. They were rushed to a hospital by a bystander. Hospital sources told Express that the condition of the girls was stable and they were responding well to the treatment. There would not be any need for the victims to undergo plastic surgery, they added.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Vijayendra S Bidari said that the teams were investigating the case from different angles. “We suspect Meena was mistaken for some other girl. However, we would be able to conclusively say anything only after the investigations conclude. We are still probing the motive behind the attack.”
Collector L Subramanian visited the girls at the hospital on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, experts tie such aggressive behaviour of youngsters to lack of parental care. “The attacks are often driven by the mentality that if I can’t have you, no one shall. The calls which I received were mostly due to refusal of marriage, denial of sex and rejection of love. I convinced them over phone and made them admit to hospitals for further treatment,” said Randeep Rajkumar, clinical psychologist.
He added that lack of parental care and affection is the main reason for these behaviour.