An auto rickshaw driver; living a pitiable life in Srinagar
Abrar A. Mattoo
SRINAGAR : In the year 2003, on a crisp September evening, Imtiaz Ahmad Bhat, an ordinary auto driver left late, at around 9 p.m. from Natipora, Srinagar. Since the accelerator cable of his auto-rickshaw was malfunctioning, he rode on at a steady pace towards his home in Shaheed-Gunj, Srinagar.
At 9: 15 p.m. near the Fuel-Station Solina, he was taken over by two bike-borne riders. The pillion rider was holding a small bucket, and in the flash of seconds, the contents were thrown at him by the devious man.
Bhat jumped out of the running auto and crashed into the pavement. Wronged; half-naked, because the acid had incinerated his clothes; and suffering from excruciating pain, he remained on the ground for a considerable time—until two constables from a nearby police station Shergadi were not rushed to take him to the hospital.
Sadly, even after 18 years, the perpetrators of the attack on Bhat have neither been identified nor punished beyond their police given sobriquet “Na Maluum Afraad–Unknown individuals”.
After the attack, Bhat’s cousin, Parwaiz Ahmad had to sell his Auto-Rickshaw because he was never going to drive it again. He had suffered visual impairment in the incident, and the debts piled up because of medicines and other incurred expenses needed to be cleared.
The cousin also used the remaining money from the sale of the auto-rickshaw to pay the rest of EMI’s on the Auto, because the vehicle had been brought on a bank loan only a year ago.
Pertinently, after Bhat was discharged from hospital, he remained bedridden for three years, nursing his oozing bandaged wounds and praying to God to come to his aid, because nobody else did. Even his own family—which included a brother and two sisters—abandoned him.
“They were all married and their obligations towards their own families drew them away. Plus, the cost of tending to an ailing man—both financially and physically—seemed a bit too much to them,” Bhat said by way of an explanation on his sibling’s behalf, while talking to Kashmir Despatch.
For more than five years after the attack, Bhat’s life was so crippled that he could not even take a bath. “Though, even after healing to a great degree, I realized that I can never heal properly and that I’d be forever scarred in both body and spirit,” Bhat said while talking to Kashmir Despatch.
Most of his face and body, especially on the left side were damaged by the acid. His left ear and eye were rendered useless and completely disfigured in the attack. Though his left eye is completely irredeemable, thanks to countless trips over the years to Dr. P.S Hardia’s clinic in Indore, the vision in his right eye has somewhat improved, “but only as much that I can walk around without bumping into things,” Bhat said with a sigh.
Bhat is not sure that he could continue his visit to Dr. Hardia’s clinic, because the expenses incurred on the trips are tending to be beyond his budget. Each trip to Indore costs, in his cost-effective manner, at least 20,000 rupees.
Unfortunately, he was in his 37th year at the time of the attack. Now he is 54 and lives in a decrepit room at his cousin Parwaiz Ahmad’s house, who has given him a place in his heart and home, “only for the sake of God”.
The Poor miserable man makes do with only a thousand-rupee monthly stipend from the social welfare department, that the government offers to differently-abled and widows. Since a thousand rupees pittance never suffices, he lives hand to mouth on charity. His visual imparity makes him unable to do any sort of menial work. He has neither an education nor a stake in the family property that he could sell to have a source of sustenance for the rest of his life.
“All the family property was sold to marry-off the two sisters, long ago,” added, Bhat. “So, I don’t have the option of selling my share either.”
Parwaiz Ahmad offers to bring him a bride from either Bihar or Bengal, but Bhat shoves off the offer on the pretext that “Marriage is a big responsibility”.
“There is only so much left to my life now,” he puts in indolently. “Nevertheless, I shall soldier-on—Inshallah!”
Since the present laws involving acid attacks are women-centric and gender-biased in nature, Bhat has not received any sort of compensation from the government.
In July 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that acid attack victims shall be paid a compensation of at least Rs 3 lakh by the state government/Union territory towards after-care and rehabilitation.
Any victim compensation schemes in existence then or brought into effect after the ruling had to comply with the said order. This was to be in addition to any fines to be paid under Section 326A (a section added to the Indian Penal Code in 2013, along with Section 326B to recognize, define and penalize the acid attacks or attempts to attack with acid).
Sadly, none of these are gender-specific. But within the government and judicial apparatus, these are presumed to apply only to female victims, even when, according to the report given by NCRB, 30-40% of the Acid Attack victims are men. Male victims are often left in the lurch and completely ignored. Under the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, they are not even listed as victims.
