By Nidhi Kinhal

Hardly three months after a woman in UP was forced to drink acid by two men, corrosive liquid was poured on her again on Saturday night. It all began in 2008, for the 35-year old, mother-of-two, when two men gangraped her over a property dispute; she was repeatedly attacked by the same men, who wanted her to erase the criminal cases against them.

After surviving the first acid attack in 2011, she was attacked in 2012 and 2013. Despite the Supreme Court’s diktat to curb acid sales, and UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s supposed commitment to ensuring women’s safety, and police protection for the woman, nothing much seems to have improved.

The two unidentified attackers allegedly scaled the hostel wall, in which she was staying, and threw acid onto her while she was filling water at the handpump. Despite the fact that CM Yogi Adityanath knew of the attacks that preceded this one, and had visited her at the King George Medical University in March, he was apparently doubtful about this particular attack a day after it occurred, saying, “it needs to be seen if actually an attack happened”. To a private news channel in Varanasi, he said, “ Investigations are on. I think by evening we will know if the attack happened or not”.

The Aliganj circle officer has now said that the video footage from cameras were being assessed to identify the accused. The armed constable responsible for her protection was in the hostel’s waiting hall when the incident occurred. The survivor is undergoing treatment at the trauma centre of the King George Medical University, and her previous attackers are still on bail.

Despite the sensitive nature of this case, Yogi Adityanath added to the channel, “Law is for protection of people, but if someone misuses it for whatever reasons or to victimise someone, then all will act on such misusers too.” We’re really not sure what he means. “Has this attack really happened or are some people hatching a conspiracy to defame the state government?”, he reportedly said, according to NDTV. The rise of acid attacks has been a serious problem in India. From 83 in 2011 to 349 reported cases in 2015, the inability to deal with this gross violence is glaring. But sure, let’s focus on apprehensions around false cases (the active men of #AskManeka would totally be on board), and brazen comments despite failed justice, instead of dealing with the issue.