Victim rejected the attacker’s marriage proposal.
By Sreejith Vallikunnu
A 23-year Russian woman was attacked with acid after she allegedly refused a marriage proposal, in India’s holy city of Varanasi on Friday morning. The woman was rushed to Sir Sunder Lal Hospital of BHU, where she is undergoing treatment for injuries on her face, eyes, hands and body.
According to police sources, the Russian national Darya Yurieva, arrived in Varanasi three days back and was staying as a paying guest at Hriday Lal Srivastava’s house, located in Nand Nagar colony in the heart of the city, where she had stayed for three months during a previous visit.
She told the police that Hriday’s grandson, Siddhartha Srivastava, attacked her and hurled acid at her around 4 am, when she was sleeping in the balcony of her third-floor room. The attack on the foreign national has once again raised concerns about the continuing acid attacks despite restricting the availability of acids.
“She sustained serious eye injuries. The next 72 hours will be very critical. A plastic surgeon has also examined her. We are giving her the best possible treatment,” said Dr KK Gupta, the chief medical superintendent of Sir Sunderlal Hospital was quoted by The Hindustan Times.
Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhary said that during her stay at the house, she came close to Siddharth, who is a student of music at Banaras Hindu University.
“He was unhappy over the decision of the woman to return to Russia. They had a quarrel over the issue after which Siddharth threw acid on her body,” said Kulhary.
An FIR has been registered and further investigation into the case is on.