When Aarti rejected a marriage proposal..

Despite stricter rules, the number of acid attack cases in India are on a rise. Perpetrators do not fear the consequences, they want the worst form of revenge. They want to teach victims a lesson and imbibe a memory in them they can never erase. The number of female acid attack victims was 98 in 2011, 85 in 2012 and 80 in 2013 but we are well aware of the naked truth that most cases go unreported and most perpetrators emerge victorious.

Aarti Thakur, who lived on rent has been struggling with life since 2011. Her first trail began when the son of her landlady declared his love for her and proposed her marriage. She was constantly coerced by her landlady to marry her son but she refused. Unable to accept his defeat, the man challenged her when she was returning from her job and stabbed her with a knife on her face. She didn’t recognize the attacker and the police dismissed the case as attempted robbery.

Aarti had her mother and younger sister to protect. She knew she was targeted intentionally so she moved to a house in the suburbs of Mumbai. Only few people knew of her replacement and among them was Aarti’s landlady.

A month later, she was attacked again. She went to the police station to complain about it but she wasn’t surprised to find not one police officer there. A few months passed and on the day of January 30, 2012, Aarti saw the son of her landlady standing outside her office building. She was struck with horror but could do nothing about it. The next day two man carrying acid worth Rupees 5 allegedly poured acid on her face, burning her face, her neck and her eyebrows. She ran to the police station shouting at them that she had been attacked. The police probed into the matter, arrested the landlady, her son and the two men whom he have bribed to destroy the girl’s life.

The acid didn’t do major damage on her face since she was wearing a scarf but it did seep into her skin. Of that she says,

“I could barely breathe. Everything turned silver black. I could feel the liquid seeping into my skin, causing it to melt off.”

Aarti is now raising funds for her surgery but fighting her battle of justice at the same time.

Some men cannot handle rejection. They want women to blush and smile when they ask them for marriage. When nothing turns as per expected, they are enraged, their ego is hurt and they seek revenge. These gruesome men, poisoned with hostility, are not afraid of any punishments. They will tear their lives apart, if need be, but they will retaliate. The only thing that gives them satisfaction is malice, malevolence and animosity.