<i>Acid throwers maim baby missing their target</i>
Abdul Matin takes his son Ashiqur with his entire body wrapped in bandages to Acid Survivors Foundation in the capital yesterday. Criminals mistakenly poured acid on Ashiqur, his mother and Matin on Tuesday.Photo: STAR
Two-year-old Ashiqur was sleeping carefree next to his parents, all completely unaware of the acid throwers who would turn their world upside down within a moment, burning all three severely.
The attack took place in Utrapur village of Araihazar in Narayanganj early Tuesday, five days after Ashiqur's father had taken his family there to visit his brother-in-law Mozammel Haque.
With their vacation turning into a nightmare, the infant boy, his father Abdul Matin of Gabtoli village in Sonargaon, and his mother Razia Sultana have now found shelter in Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) in the capital.
"My baby is suffering for no fault. We didn't have the slightest idea about the enmity between Mozammel and the attackers," Sultana Razia, six percent of whose body including the face and lower abdomen was burnt with acid, told The Daily Star.
Recalling the incident, the 25-year-old mother said her husband, a furniture shop employee, had taken them to Mozammel's house on Thursday.
The three went to sleep in the same room on Monday night with the door open as the doors and windows of the house were being repaired.
"Suddenly, I felt something fell on me setting me on fire," Sultana said, adding their baby also gave out a heart wrenching scream at the same time.
As their skins and flesh were burning in acid, they saw through the door two persons running away, the couple claimed.
They said they could not make out the faces of the perpetrators because of the enveloping darkness.
Twenty percent of Ashiqur's body beneath the navel was burnt while seven to eight percent of his father's body including the back was burnt.
The three were first admitted to the Burn Unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) the same day.
"The baby may need a reconstructive surgery," Samanta Lal Sen, director of the unit, told The Daily Star.
ASF officials visited the family on Wednesday as they were undergoing treatment in DMCH, and took them to ASF hospital to provide better care.
Talking to The Daily Star, Mozammel said he had filed a case with Araihazar police station on Wednesday accusing seven people for the acid attack. The accused include five who had allegedly abducted him in 2001.
The complainant said Chan Mia and Solaiman took Tk 1.80 lakh and 27.5 decimal of land from him on February 22, 2001 for sending him to Australia, but did not follow through.
As Mozammel complained to Narayanganj police superintendent about the matter, the accused promised to return the money and the land by August that year.
"But they kidnapped me instead on August 23. After keeping me captive for 17 days, they took me to Keraniganj area and started beating me up," Mozammel said.
As some local people saw them beating him, the kidnappers fled the scene leaving him there, Mozammel added.
He filed a case in September 2001 against five -- Solaiman, Abdus Sobhan, Hanif, Shipon and Chan Mia -- in this connection.
"I think the same people are behind the acid attack," Mozammel said adding that he also included the names of two other suspects -- Jasim and Akbar.
Officer-in-charge of Araihazar Police Station Jibon Sarker said, "We also think it is a sequel to an old enmity. We've arrested Chan Mia and interrogating him under a two-day remand."
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