Mrunal Manmay Dash

Rourkela: In a shocking incident, four members of a family including an infant suffered serious burn injuries after a person allegedly threw acid on them in Sector-A under Bandhamunda police limits in the steel city on Wednesday.

Sources said Nagendra Pandey, his wife, mother and brother Krishnakant were outside their home when the miscreant allegedly hurled acid at them and fled the scene. While Krishnakant luckily escaped the attack, others in the family were rushed to the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) where they are currently undergoing treatment.

The accused Santosh Soni, as identified by Pandey’s brother, has a jewellery shop in nearby diesel colony.

Narrating the incident, Krishnakant said, “My brother was talking with Santosh’s brother on the street. Santosh came on a scooty and suddenly threw acid on us. I think he misunderstood the discussion my brother was having with his brother and thought Nagendra was threatening him.”

“Santosh was a regular offender. He continuously gets in and out of jail for some case or the other. In fact he was just released from jail in another case,” added Krishnakant.

Though the actual reason behind the incident is still unknown, it is suspected that family dispute might be the cause behind the aggression.

Acid attacks seem to be a bigger reason to worry now with law enforcement agencies remaining least bothered. A similar incident had happened in Rourkela in December 2018, when a woman threw acid on another woman suspecting her of being in an illicit relationship with her husband. In Kendrapara, a miscreant injured as many as three persons of a family by throwing acid on them in October 2018. Similarly in November last year a youth was seriously injured after a girl threw acid on him over an alleged one sided love affair.

Rampant acid attacks and an unabated over-the-counter sale of acids tell a sorry tale. As per the NCRB 2018 report released recently, Odisha is 3rd in country in number of acid attacks.
As per the report, the number of acid attacks in Odisha in year 2013 was mere 2. The year 2014 recorded 10 such cases. Except in 2015, when State recorded only 5 acid attack cases, the counts rose to 12 in 2016 and 13 each in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

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