UP women cops take selfie with acid attack survivor, suspended

Lucknow: A 45-year-old woman was allegedly forced to drink acid on a train, but her misery did not end there as three women constables of the Uttar Pradesh police then took selfies with the victim, which went viral.

The shocking case also caught the attention of state chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi, who visited her while the police claimed to have arrested the two accused persons identified as Bhondu Singh and Guddu Singh.

A probe was ordered in to the "insensitive" conduct of three lady constables.

According to police officials, the shocking incident came to light when the woman got off the Allahabad-Lucknow Ganga Gomti Express at Charbagh station here and gave a written complaint to the government railway police. She had written it being unable to speak, they said.

As per the complaint, the alleged victim said that two persons forced her to drink acid around 10.30 AM yesterday.

This was allegedly the fourth attack on the woman. Allegedly, in 2012, she was attacked with a knife while in 2013 she was attacked with acid, police sources said.

Two men had allegedly gang-raped and attacked her with acid over a property dispute in her home at Unchahar (Raebareli) in 2009, 100 kilometres from Lucknow, they added.

The woman works with a cafe run by acid attack survivors in Lucknow and had gone home on March 10 as her daughter was taking class 10 examinations, police sources. The victim told the cops that she was returning yesterday when the incident took place.

She was then taken to the King George's Medical University for treatment where three women constables, deployed to protect her, took selfies with the victim in the hospital bed.

The purported photographs, which went viral, show the three constables sitting near the bed of the victim. A Satish Ganesh, IG (Lucknow Zone), termed the three constables "insensitive" and promised "immediate action" against them.

During his visit, Chief Minister announced a Rs 1 lakh assistance for the woman. Women Welfare Minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi also visited the victim and assured all help for her.

A recommendation has also been made by the UP police for the suspension of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) squad that was on duty on the Allahabad-Lucknow Ganga Gomti Express yesterday, onboard which the incident occurred.

The issue of lawlessness and women's security had been taken up by the BJP in a big way during the UP Assembly elections in which it scored a stunning victory.

Another shocking incident of acid attack is learnt to have taken place earlier this week near Mathura.

An 18-year-old girl was seriously injured when three youths whose molestation attempt she resisted, allegedly poured acid on her.