GRAPHIC WARNING: India acid attack victims face cameras [View all]

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2014/08/20/ns-pkg-udas-india-acid-attack-victims.cnn.html
VIDEO
India acid attack victims face cameras
August 20, 2014
Victims of brutal acid attacks pose for a charity photo shoot.
CNN's Samnima Udas reports.

One vitally important thing not mentioned in the video is the motivation for these attacks. So here is an article addressing this particularly brutal expression of gender violence.

Acid Attacks: Indian Women Victims of Brutality
Added by Natalia Sanchez on March 7, 2014

With International Woman’s Day coming up on Saturday, a reminder was given Friday morning of the violence that some women are subjected to around the world, particularly among acid attack victims. Reuters journalist, Amit Ganguly, delivered a piece early Friday that brings attention to the brutal acid attacks suffered by women in India who reject their suitors, as did 21-year-old Sapna. Just six months ago, Sapna’s face was scarred by acid that was thrown at her after having denied a relative’s proposal to marry.

Sapna one of many acid attack victims. From 2010 to 2012, the number of reported acid attack cases in India was 225; that is a remarkable reduction from 2002 when 496 people were attacked in that year alone. As an act of revenge, acid attacks are experienced mostly by women and children as way of permanently damaging and dishonoring individuals who have encourage some kind of familial or social resentment. 80 percent of attacks, however, have occurred as an outraged response from a man whose marriage proposal had been rejected. As was the case for Sapna.

While the physical, psychological and emotional cost of suffering acid trauma is incalculable, the actual cost of surgery and medication to mend the resulting disfigurement totals around 3.5 million rupees, or close to $57,000 USD. Sapna, who comes from a low-middle class family, was supposed to receive 300,000 rupees ($4,800) from the Delhi government to help offset the medical cost’s of treating her scars. She had been given 100,000 rupees ($1,600) within 15 days of the attack, but has not received any more of her allotment from the government since. The subsidized amount that is supposed to be offered by the government does not offset much of the costs especially considering that most victims never receive the full amount.

Ashish Shukla, a journalist and co-founder of the Stop Acid Attacks organization, argues that for women in India who suffer acid violence, while it is within a citizens right to receive medical aid and financial compensation, most women and families are unaware of that fact....

Read more at http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/acid-attacks-indian-women-victims-of-brutality/#C4XV2kBoPgz0o7ty.99