Us And Them: Acid Attack On Nine Year Old Wife

Dhaka - A 24-year-old man was sentenced to death in Bangladesh for throwing acid on his nine-year-old bride, disfiguring and blinding her for life, prosecution lawyers said on Tuesday.

A special tribunal in the industrial town of Gazipur, 35km north of the capital Dhaka, handed down the death sentence on Swapan Gazi after a lengthy trial. The tribunal also fined him.

The acid attack occurred five years ago after Gazi tried to establish sexual relations with his nine-year-old wife Monira Begum, who refused to go to her husband's home.

The Acid Survivors Foundation, a charity working for the acid victims, said the use of acid in domestic violence is on the rise in Bangladesh. The victims of acid attacks are usually women and girls.
The foundation also helped pay for treatment of Begum's scarred face in Spain, while the government of Bangladesh provided her with legal support.

The government recently toughened laws against perpetrators of acid attacks, implementing the possibility of capital punishment for the offence.

Child marriages are banned in Bangladesh under the law, but the practice is nevertheless prevalent mostly in rural villages. source

I did a search looking for a typical nine year old Pakistani girl and came across this adorable six year old munchkin by the name of Amal.
I hesitated as to whether or not to use her in this post, but I think I have done the right thing, such child-like beauty can only emphasise the horror of the attack on that poor nine year old mite.







Further on, Mohammed sees a red demon that is torturing women by hanging them up by hooks through their breasts, as they are engulfed in flames. The women are being punished for giving birth to illegitimate children whom they falsely claimed were fathered by their husbands. Persian, 15th century.