<i>'They threatened me to burn with acid, and they did it'</i>
Victim of acid attack by divorced husband and his two accomplices, a young woman is groaning in pain at the surgery ward of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH).
On Wednesday evening, Shamim Reza, ex-husband of Shirin Akhtar, 20, daughter of Hasen Ali of Gopalpara village in Bagmara, along with Shamsur Rahman and Masum of Puthia upazila entered Shirin's father's house and threw acid on her, causing serious burn injuries on her face and other parts of body.
Locals caught Shamim Reza, 25, of Durgapur, and his accomplice Shamsur Rahman, 25, of Puthia upazila, and handed them over to police while another accomplice Masum, 26, of Puthia upazila managed to flee, said Harunur Rashid, officer-in-charge of Bagmara police station.
"Shamim and the two others with a bottle of acid and two syringes entered our house and poured it on Shirin when she was cooking at the kitchen-shed at around 7:00pm," said her brother Helal Uddin at the hospital.
“My face, eyes started burning as they threw something on me. I thought I was dying,” said Shirin.
While studying intermediate at Bhawaniganj College, Shirin developed relation with Shamim of Durgapur upazila and married him without consent of her family members in November 2009, said her family members.
Three months later when her parents accepted the marriage, Shamim and his family members began to create pressure on her for a piece of land and Tk 2 lakh as dowry, they said, adding that her in-laws would torture her often and one day in May or June in 2010, they beat her up and drove her out from their house in Durgapur.
She went to her father's house in Bagmara and started living there.
In November 2010, Shirin divorced Shamim but he and his family members started making cell phone calls, threatening her to burn with acid, even kill if she does not return to his house, she said.
Her elder brother Nurul Islam filed a case with Bagmara police station accusing the three acid attackers.
"Now our main concern is to ensure best treatment for my sister and punishment of the attackers," he said.
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