A man allegedly threw acid on his wife and two children after a domestic dispute in Ghareeb Shah area of Rahim Yar Khan district on Sunday.
The woman was living at her parents’ house since a dispute between herself and her unemployed husband.
According to details, when the accused went to his in-laws to bring his wife and children back, they fought, as the woman refused to return. Enraged by the refusal, the husband threw acid on his wife, which also splashed onto the two children, who were next to their mother.
The children are aged seven years and one-and-a-half years, according to the victims’ family. The woman’s eyes and the seven-year-old child’s eyes were affected in the attack.
The woman and her children were rushed to Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Rahim Yar Khan. Doctors stated that the woman had suffered 40 per cent burns on her body while the children suffered 20 per cent burns each.
It is not clear if the husband already had the acid with him when he went to bring his wife and children home.
Between 150 and 400 cases of acid attacks are reported in Pakistan every year. As many as 80 per cent of the victims are women, and almost 70 per cent are below 18. Such attacks are not used to kill the victim but to cause disfigurement, and can often cause blindness, hearing loss and physical and mental pain. Statistics show that a common trigger is domestic dispute.
