AP government to bear acid attack victims expenses

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has announced that the state government will make arrangements for the plastic surgery of two engineering students K Swapnika and Pranitha who were disfigured in an acid attack in Warangal last week.

The CM said that the government will bear the expenses of the treatment and surgery. The doctors at the Yashodha Hospital in Hyderabad were making preparations for the first round of such surgery on Swapnika, whose condition is described as stable. The CM said that Pranitha will also be taken care of similarly.  "First of all it is the duty of the government not to allow such incidents to take place," Reddy said.

"As a doctor I can understand the pain and agony of the victims of acid attack and how they must be feeling about their future life," Reddy said.

The CM announced that the state government will take all the necessary steps to effectively curb such attacks on women. A separate cell to deal with such cases was among the new measures.

Reddy said that there was no question of forgiving the people involved in such heinous crimes against women. "There is a need to send a clear message that those committing such crimes will be punished severely," he said.

On the failure of the police to act on the complaint of Swapnika's father against the harassment by the main culprit S Srinivas Rao, the CM said that the two police officials were suspended.

The Chief Minister said that after the first complaint, the culprit was arrested and counseled by the police, but since the case was bailable, he got out.

Meanwhile the tragedy continued to unfold and claim more lives. Three days after the police arrested and shot dead the three youth allegedly involved in the acid attack, the father of one D Sanjay also died of heart attack.

Sambhamurthy, a teacher by profession had collapsed soon after hearing of his son's death at the hands of the police. He suffered a heart attack and later died at a hospital.

Sambhamurthy had charged the police with killing Sanjay in a fake encounter, "His only crime was that he was with Srinivas Rao on that fateful day," he said.

Sanjay was a friend of Srinivas Rao and P Harikrishna. All of them had admitted to their involvement in the acid attack on Swapnika and Pranitha. Police said they were shot when they tried to attack policemen and escape.