Destroyed by acid attack, Orissa teenager waits for a miracle

Destroyed by acid attack, Orissa teenager waits for a miracle
S.N. AGRAGAMI

CUTTACK, APRIL 2: Six months ago, 16-year-old Poonam Singhal was a bubbly teenager. Today, she is alive but life for her seems worse than death.

On October 17 last year, while on their way to college, Poonam and three of her friends were waylaid by six men. While her friends watched in horror, unable to help, the men caught hold of Poonam and poured acid all over her face. The main culprit, Satyasai Nayak, was caught by passers-by but his accomplices escaped. Though Poonam was rushed to hospital, it was too late; it had taken just a few seconds for the acid to mangle her face and chest.

What happened that day was the gruesome culmination of a story that had begun six months previously in her hometown: Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district. Poonam's brother Mukesh had hired Nayak, an electrician, to repair their TV set. Having taken a fancy to the Class X student he saw in the house, Nayak began stalking her, often stopping her on the street and proposing to her. Poonam repeatedly turned him down and told her father Bansilal Agarwal, an ayurvedic practitioner, about Nayak's behaviour. Agarwal warned the man to stay away from his daughter, but Nayak refused to take heed.

Angered by her rejection, the obsessed man finally took revenge by attacking the girl with acid and ruining her life.

For the past six months, Poonam has been confined to cabin no. 13 of the surgery department at SCB Medical College. She has undergone four major operations and though they have gone a long way in trying to restore some semblance of a face, Poonam has a long way to go before she can hope to look anything like her old self.

``When she was brought here, she was in a gruesome state. There was no skin on her face, arms and chest. After a series of operations we have been able to restore some portion of her face and body,'' says Dr Falguni Ray, Professor and head of the plastic surgery department. ``Her life has been saved, but there are a lot of things to be done,'' he admits.

For Poonam's family, the experience has been just as traumatic. They have spent all their savings on her treatment, to the extent that her siblings have had to discontinue their studies.

The Chief Minister's aid of Rs 30,000 and donations from other organisations have also fallen short. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had recently instructed that she be provided with free treatment at SCB but the hospital has referred her to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.

According to Dr Ray, the priority is to restore her eyelids which have been virtually destroyed. Her ears, nose and mouth also need specialised reconstruction operations, for which she has been referred to AIIMS.

The whole procedure will cost around Rs 2 lakh and Agarwal cannot afford this. In the meantime, a young girl's life and future hangs in the balance.