A pregnant woman from Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district was attacked with acid by her in-laws last month after an astrologer reportedly predicted that she would give birth to a girl, NDTV reported on Thursday. The victim, who already has an 18-month-old daughter, was attacked by her mother- and sister-in-law as they had decided to kill her after the astrologer made the prediction.
Police said the two women threw acid on her stomach in an attempt to kill her. She was rescued by her neighbours and taken to a nearby hospital. Tests are being conducted to identify the kind of acid thrown on the victim, who suffered 30% burn injuries. An official said, “It appears that they mixed a chemical in kerosene and poured it over her.”
A case has been registered in the matter. Police have arrested the Nellore resident’s husband and father-in-law and are on the lookout for her mother-in-law. The status of her unborn baby remains unclear
There have been reports of several acid attacks across the country, even after a ban on the open sale of the substance by the Supreme Court. In August, a resident of Delhi was arrested along with his uncle and brother after they threw acid on a 25-year-old woman following her rejection of his marriage proposal. In March, six teenage girls in Punjab were injured in an acid attack carried out by two men on a motorcycle after one of them rejected the advances by one of her assailants.
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