Delhi: 3 Arrested for throwing acid on a schoolgirl

In a gruesome incident, a 17-year-old girl in the national capital was on Wednesday attacked with acid while she was on her way to school, the police said, adding three persons have been held in this connection.

A 20-year-old youth along with two others were later held for allegedly throwing acid on the girl on Wednesday morning.

Sachin Arora, 20, had planned and hatched the conspiracy few days ago along with two associates to throw acid on the girl after the friendly terms between them ended in September this year, an official said.

Arora on Wednesday morning threw acid on the Class 12 girl student, who was on her way along with her sister to school. The entire incident was captured in the CCTVs installed on Verma Chowk, Rama Park area near Dwarka Mor.

Arora and his associates identified as Harshit Aggarwal a.k.a. Honey, 19 and Virender Singh a.k.a. Sonu, 22 are residents of the same locality where the girl resides.

According to Sagar Preet Hooda, the Special Commissioner of Police (Law & Order), on December 14, at about 8.45 a.m, an information was received from Deen Dayal Upadhaya (DDU) hospital at Mohan Garden police station regarding alleged acid attack on a 17 year-old girl.

"Immediately, the police teams rushed to the hospital and found that at around 7.30 a.m, the 12th class student was going to school along with her younger sister when two persons on bike came and the pillion rider threw some acid like substance on her," the police officer said.

The girl was later shifted to Safdarjung Hospital where she is under treatment with 8 per cent burn injuries.

A case under section Section 326A (causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered at Mohan Garden police station and investigation taken up, said Hooda.

"Multiple teams were formed to identify and nab the accused persons . Based on the information collected from witnesses and local sources, Sachin, Harshit and Virender were arrested," said Hooda.

On questioning, it was revealed that Sachin was known to the victim and they were on friendly terms till September.

"At the time of the incident, Harshit was riding the bike. Virender aided the accused persons by being part of the criminal conspiracy," said the Special CP.

In the morning before the incident, Virender took Sachin's scooty and mobile phone to another location so as to create an alibi and mislead the investigation.

The police said that on the basis of technical evidence, it has been found that Sachin procured the acid from Flipkart and payment mode was through PayTM.

A police officer privy to the investigation said that the acid, which could be probably 'Nitric Acid', has been sent for a chemical test to determine its exact chemical composition.

The father of the victim said that his younger daughter came running home, just after a few minutes after leaving for school, and told them that someone had thrown acid on her sister.

"I had not known that my girl was facing any danger otherwise I would have accompanied them to the school," said the victim's father, while talking to reporters.

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has also taken cognizance of the acid attack, and its team met the victim in the hospital and inquired into the matter.

The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) also took suo motu cognizance of the acid attack and issued a notice to Delhi Police regarding it.

DCW Members Vandana Singh and Firdaus Khan visited the girl in the hospital and interacted with her family. The Commission has assured full support to the victim and her family.

A team of the Commission is also deployed at the hospital with the girl.

"Will get justice for the daughter. The DCW has been fighting for years to ban acid in the country. When will the governments wake up?" said DCW chief Swati Maliwal in a tweet.

"This absolutely cannot be tolerated. How did the criminals get so much courage? The criminals should be given the strictest punishment. The safety of every girl child in Delhi is important to us," said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a tweet after the incident. (KB/IANS)