Despite SC directive, blind acid attack victim still awaits free medical treatment

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Last month, the bandages were removed to accommodate newly-stitched eyelids. Now penniless, he is unsure whether his disfigured face will ever look normal again. For his age, his concerns have now changed.

“Marriage is not on the cards for me. I can’t even show my face to a girl,” says John, who is busy making desperate attempts to get financial aid for undergoing a plastic surgery.

“Since the attack, I had to wrap a cloth around my eye to sleep as there was no eyelid to shut,” he said. He underwent eyelid reconstruction surgery in October, 2014.

John underwent a plastic surgery immediately after the attack at a private hospital in Malad. When the family approached the doctor requesting free treatment, he reportedly “got angry” and warned of stopping the treatment mid-way. “We had no option. We borrowed money and paid the hospital,” John’s relative and namesake Michael John said.

According to Persis Sidhwa, attached with NGO Majlis, section 357C of CrPC says that acid attack victims should be given “medical treatment free of cost”, but hospitals do not follow it.

“The interpretation of the CrPC section varies. We feel that it also includes plastic surgery but several hospitals may only consider giving first aid,” Sidhwa said.

Under Manodhairya scheme, started in 2013, a District Criminal Injuries and Rehabilitation Board is supposed to oversee counseling and rehabilitation of victims, including “making employment available” to them. John currently works for a monthly wage of Rs 6,000 at a factory in Malad. He approached officials of the Women and Child Development department (that oversees the Manodhairya scheme) but has received no response yet.

John spends half his salary on regular medication such as eye drops and face creams which have been prescribed to him for a long duration. “One small tube of face cream costs me Rs 1,000. I have stopped using it now,” he says.