First flight journey, ‘glimmer of hope’ to regain eyesight: Chandigarh acid attack survivor seeks treatment in Chennai

Kafi told The Indian Express, “I am really excited and nervous. I have never travelled in a flight, and after so many years, I have this glimmer of hope that I may regain my eyesight.”

She said when the Adani Foundation got in touch after she topped the Institute for Blind at Sector 26, her family told it about the Sankara Nethralaya, and it offered to sponsor the trip and treatment.

Kafi was three when three men threw acid on her while playing Holi in 2011, turning her blind. The next six years were an ordeal as her parents visited several hospitals nationwide and spent over Rs 20 lakh to regain her vision.

As Kafi’s family struggled to make ends meet and moved out of Hisar in Haryana, where her father used to run an iron shop, the three male accused, who were convicted, walked out after two years of serving their sentence in 2018. In 2019, her father filed an appeal in the high court which is still pending.

Kafi was admitted to Class 1 at a school in Hisar when she was eight. Finding that she was lagging in her studies, her parents moved to Chandigarh and took admission at the Institute for Blind when she was 10.

Kafi and her family now stay at Shanti Nagar in Sector 13. She was named ‘Kafi’ as her parents believed her birth was “sufficient enough” to complete their family.