Protests in Srinagar after car-borne assailants spray acid on law student

Srinagar: A law student is battling for life at a Srinagar hospital after some car-borne youth sprinkled acid on her face causing serious injuries to one of her eyes. The incident has shocked entire Kashmir Valley and Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, witnessed protests by students and other residents demanding arrest of those involved in the crime.

Police said it has launched a massive manhunt for the assailants. It also said that two unknown attackers travelling in a Maruti 800 car with a sticker ‘Mansa’ pasted on its rear glass threw the acid on the girl (name withheld) at Nowshera, a densely populated locality about 9-km from the City centre Lal Chowk, as she was on way to a nearby law college.

On hearing her cries, local residents rushed to the scene of occurrence and poured water over the victim’s head and body in a desperate bid to wash away the substance, witnesses said. She was then removed to nearby Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences where doctors referred her to SK Jhelum Valley Medical College hospital here for advanced treatment.

Doctors said she has suffered serious injuries as the attackers have sprinkled a bottle full of corrosive liquid on her face. She also has received acid-burns on both her hands whereas one of her eyes has been severely damaged. This is second such incident in Srinagar in past few years. In earlier case, a local court had awarded 10-year imprisonment to a youth found involved in the attack on a school teacher