Groom and niece burnt in Bangladesh wedding acid attack
5 injured when gang throw acid at gathering for pre-wedding celebrations in Bangladesh village
By Mainul Islam Khan
DHAKA, Bangladesh
A Bangladeshi wedding became a nightmare for its young groom when he, and at least four others, were injured in an acid attack on Thursday.
The brother of the groom, Selim Sarker, said a gang stormed into their house in a village in the southeastern region of Shariatpur, where the family were holding a pre-wedding celebration.
He said the attackers switched off their power generator, plunging the village into darkness, and threw a bottle of acid at the gathering before fleeing.
Sarker and his five year-old niece are being treated at Dhaka Medical College in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, where they were taken after the attack.
Partha Shankar Paul, a resident surgeon at the hospital's burns unit, said Sarker's condition is critical, with 30 percent of his body burned by the acid.
According to the Bangladesh-based Acid Survivors Foundation, there have been 53 attacks in 2014 and more than 3,000 attacks recorded in Bangladesh since 1999.
The foundation defines acid attacks as using highly corrosive chemicals that cause skin tissue to melt, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bone.
The Bangladeshi parliament has twice passed laws against acid violence, sanctioning capital punishment for attackers and up to 10 years imprisonment for the production, transporting and use of acid.
Animesh Chandra Sarker, Coordinator of the Acid Survivors Foundation's legal support, said cases of acid violence often spend years in courts waiting for final judgments.
