'The aim is to maim rather than kill'

There are no mirrors at the National Burns Centre in Airoli (Navi Mumbai), a centre dedicated solely to treat victims of burn injuries

Dr Sunil Keswani, director of the National Burns Centre in Airoli

There are no mirrors at the National Burns Centre in Airoli (Navi Mumbai), a centre dedicated solely to treat victims of burn injuries. “We only show our patients the mirror when they are strong enough to look into one,” says Dr Sunil Keswani, director of the 50-bed centre, started in 2002.

Dr Keswani says that, “victims of flame burns are at least 20 to 30 times in number than those of acid attacks. They are not given that much coverage, perhaps these cases are not sensational enough?” he asks. Excerpts:

How many acid burn victims do you get?
We see about five to six acid attack victims in a year. Most of the victims are grievously injured. There is an attempt to maim rather than kill. An acid attack is a premeditated crime.

Most acid attack victims are women...
In 26 years in this field, I have never seen a man as a victim of an acid attack.

What is the primary reason for acid attacks?
It is rejection. Mainly, the attackers feel spurned for some reason or the other. There is also envy. Five years ago, we got an unusual case from Punjab. A young, beautiful girl was getting married. The bride’s to be sister-in-law hired somebody to throw acid on this girl, because she could not bear the fact that she was so much prettier than her. The acid was thrown on her just before she entered the marriage pandal. In this attack, the motive was to kill. The victim was treated in Ludhiana, then flown here, came to our centre, but died eventually.

Counselling needs to go together with treatment
Yes. The confidence of victims is rock bottom. There is also a searing sense of injustice, when, they see their attacker out of jail on bail while they continue to suffer. Thoughts like, “I am sure he is laughing at me” continue to fester. Acid attack victims often question: why me? What had I done?’

Do you have enough skin donors?
Five years ago, we had two skin donors a month. Today, we have 24. We need 150 skin donations a month, so there is a gap, but the graph is only going up.

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