The Delhi High Court on Monday directed Safdarjung Hospital to carry out skin grafts to rebuild the face of a 21-year-old woman disfigured in an acid attack in August last year.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru asked the Medical Superintendent of the hospital to ensure the woman got the required corrective surgery. The court passed the order after it was informed by the Delhi Government standing counsel Zubeda Begum that corrective plastic surgery is carried out at lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan, Safdarjung and Ram Manohar lohia hospitals.
The court was hearing the plea of the acid attack victim who had said that while she had been provided Rs 5 lakh compensation, the amount was not sufficient to meet the costs of corrective surgery. It was also of the view that private hospitals cannot be asked to perform surgery as “that is not within the scope of the present proceedings”.
According to her plea, she was attacked by two men on a motorcycle as she was walking back from work in East Delhi in August last year. The men had accosted her and hurled acid into her face on a busy street, her petition said. She could feel her face evaporating like melting wax. She later found out that one of her relatives had hired the two men to attack her for having spurned his advances and turning down the 32-year-old’s marriage proposal, her petition had further added.
