Man throws acid on ex-wife for divorcing him

A man in Natore’s Baraigram has thrown acid on his ex-wife for divorcing him, reports UNB.

Nargis Akter Nupur, the victim, is being treated at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Her father Tayej Uddin said Abu Taleb, a known criminal in the upazila’s Ahmedpur village, abducted his daughter and married her against her wishes when she was a college student.

Nupur divorced Taleb when he went into hiding to avoid arrest in several cases and moved to her father’s house in the same upazila’s Komordoh village.

When Taleb learned about the development, he went to Nupur’s house on Monday night and as soon as the victim opened the door, he threw acid on her and fled.

The victim’s father has filed a case at Baraigram Police Station.

The highest penalty for acid crime is death in Bangladesh.

Tough law and mass awareness campaigns have helped curb the crime over the years.

Between 1999 and 2019, as many as 3,423 incidents of acid throwing were recorded by the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) which says the country has seen a 93 per cent decline in acid attacks in the last two decades.

The majority of female victims are between 13 to 35 years old.

ASF says 99 per cent of the perpetrators are men and one-fourth of the reported victims are children. According to ASF, a significant number of attacks occur when a woman rejects a marriage or love proposal.