‘Someone’s mad rage has caused us so much pain’

19-year-old acid attack survivor reshma qureshi shares her excitement about walking the ramp at this year’s new york fashion week.

Her face is damaged with no sight in one eye, but Reshma Qureshi did not let her appearance determine her life. Today, Reshma is a role model to many acid attack victims in the country. This 19-year-old brutally disfigured acid attack victim is all set to walk the ramp at this year’s New York Fashion Week. In an interview with The Asian Age, she shares her excitement, her tryst with social stigma and her fight against acid attack.

Reshma is not new to the limelight, she is the face of the #EndAcidSale movement of New Delhi-based NGO Make Love Not Scars and features in their videos that begin with providing makeup tips and go on to shock viewers with information on how acids, sold freely across the country, ruin lives. “It is important for each of us to realise that beauty is not just about how good we look in the mirror,” Reshma shares, adding, “I am very excited to be a part of such a prestigious international platform. When my mentor Ria Sharma from Make Love Not Scars informed me that the FTL Moda has invited me to be part of New York Fashion Week, I was dumb-struck. This will be my first international trip too. I was so elated by the news that I was in tears.”

In May 2014, Reshma and her sister Gulshan were visiting Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh when her life was torn apart. They were attacked by Gulshan’s estranged husband and two accomplices. As Reshma fought to help her sister, the attackers turned on her, pouring acid on her face and leaving her in excruciating pain, disfigured for life. Talking about the incident and its effect on her, Reshma says, “Acid attack victims go through a lot of pain — physical as well as mental. Especially because in our society, a woman’s worth is still tied to her appearance. The disfigurement, physical pain and psychological trauma that acid attacks cause give women a lifetime of difficulties. Those were difficult times. I was hiding inside my home and was not ready to face the world.”

A tenth grade pass-out, Reshma is planning to study further and help other victims. “It is very important for the victims to realise that it was not their fault. Most of us go through a phase of self-doubt, but it is very important to get out of it and face the world. I want them as well as society at large to understand that somebody’s mad rage has caused us so much pain, but still we are going to live our life to the fullest. I speak to fellow victims very often as psychological help can heal bodily scars more easily,” she explains.

Reshma wants more and more people to know about her story, and hopes that through its impact, along with that of the stories of other women like her, the sale of acid can finally be stopped. She says,“We need to have stricter laws regarding the sale of acid in our country. In India, a bottle of concentrated acid is cheaper than an eyeliner. Also, we need to have severe punishment laws for the attackers, so that people think twice before doing anything like this. Acid attack should become a non-bailable offence, as most of the attackers easily get away by paying a minimum bond amount.”