Yogi Adityanath skeptical over acid attack on gang rape victim

Lucknow: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday, expressed doubts whether an acid attack actually happened on the gang rape victim in Lucknow and said: “it needs to be seen if actually, an attack happened”.

As per a report by HT, the Chief Minister’s comments came a day after the woman said she was attacked with acid by two unidentified assailants at her hostel in Lucknow’s Aliganj area.

“It needs to be seen if actually, an attack happened. Investigations are on. I think by evening we will know if the attack happened or not,” CM Adityanath told a private news channel in Varanasi.
“This turns out to be the sixth acid attack on the woman. I had visited her at the KGMU and then we made arrangments for her treatment and security. She was kept in a secure place under police protection,” he said.

He had visited the victim at King George Medical University in March following an earlier acid attack. “Law is for the protection of people, but if someone misuses it for whatever reasons or to victimise someone, then all will act on such misusers too,” he added.

She suffered injuries on the right side of her face and shoulder and is undergoing treatment at the trauma centre of the KGMU. The incident happened when, an armed constable, Sandeep Singh who is deployed for her security, was in the waiting hall of the hostel.

The woman is a mother of two children and is pursuing court cases against two men who had allegedly gang-raped her in 2008. The Rai Bareli police have detained Bhondu Singh and Guddu Singh, accused of gang-raping her late on Saturday night.

The accused were arrested earlier but released on bail. The woman was first attacked with acid in 2011. She works at Lucknow’s Sheroes Hangout Café, run by many acid attack survivors. Her husband and kids live in Rae Bareilly.

The two accused had allegedly entered her hostel on Saturday night by climbing the perimeter wall of the hostel and threw acid on her.

Vivek Tripathi, Aliganj circle officer, said video footage from cameras installed at the hostel and commercial establishments in the area were being scanned to identify the accused. The woman had lodged at least eight FIRs against the two accused and their accomplices.