Warning: This story contains distressing details
Shaheen Malik, an acid-attack survivor and disability rights activist in India, is fighting an uphill legal and social battle to secure justice and rehabilitation for others like her - and says she will not give up despite the odds.
In 2019, Ruman's* husband allegedly beat her and forced her to drink acid during an episode of domestic violence. The alleged incident left her with severe internal injuries and a damaged esophagus that had to be artificially reconstructed so that she could eat. Despite years of treatment, Ruman struggles to swallow food and eats little. At 28, she weighs just 21kg, less than the average weight of an eight-year-old girl. Basic tasks like going to the bathroom exhaust her and she needs constant medical supervision.
Malik, 42, has been campaigning for the rights of acid attack survivors for over a decade. She has undergone 25 surgeries and lost vision in her left eye after she was attacked with acid outside her workplace in northern Haryana state in 2009. For 16 years, she fought a legal battle to bring her perpetrators to justice before a trial court acquitted them in December. Malik says she's devastated, but not defeated, and has challenged the verdict.
In December, Shaheen petitioned the Supreme Court saying the disability law must also include survivors like Ruman. For survivors of forced acid ingestion, the disfigurement is internal and hence not as obvious. But their lives are extremely challenging as they find it difficult to breathe, speak and swallow food despite numerous surgeries, she says.
In 2021, Malik, along with Laxmi Agarwal, another acid attack survivor, set up the Brave Souls Foundation - a non-profit that offers legal and economic aid to acid attack survivors. Around 50 survivors live in the foundation's shelter home in Delhi's Jangpura neighborhood, where they are offered care and assistance. Malik points out that acid attack survivors still struggle to get affordable medical care even though private and public hospitals are legally mandated to provide free treatment to them, including reconstructive surgeries.
The foundation is also helping Ruman fight her case after her husband appealed against his conviction in a higher court and was released on bail last year. Meanwhile, the number of acid attack cases in the country have been rising, with NCRB recording 176 in 2021, 202 in 2022 and 207 in 2023. Despite increasing awareness, acid attack survivors continue to face societal stigma and difficulty securing justice.
Malik's story is a compelling testament to resilience, as she continues to fight for a space for people like herself in society, determined that no survivor should face such battles alone.
*Survivors have shared only one name.
