Acid attack: Volleyball player suffers 20% burns in Rohtak

Two motorcycle-borne youths threw acid on an 18-year-old girl, a promising volleyball player, on Saturday in Rohtak, the hometown of Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Doctors attending on the girl said that she had sustained 20% burns on her face, including on her mouth and eyes.

The crime took place in broad daylight in the busy Prem Nagar Chowk area around 5.15pm when victim Ritu was going for a volleyball practice session to nearby Saini Public School near her house in Chamanpura area on foot.

As she reached near the school, two youths carrying acid in a glass container threw it on her face, after which she fell down writhing in pain. The miscreants escaped from the spot. The vicitm was was rushed to PGIMES in Rohtak by a PCR van after some people informed police about the crime.

Though police feigned ignorance about the identity of the youths as well as the motive behind the heinous crime, area people said that the accused often teased girls in the area. Ritu could be targeted for ignoring the miscreants, they added.

The girl's shocked mother Rani Devi said that her daughter did not tell her about any unpleasant happening with her. Ritu was a Plus One student of Open School and had represented the district and state in volleyball.

Area DSP Dharna Yadav said that she would take area shopkeepers and onlookers in confidence to nab the culprits.

Meanwhile, a large number of area residents, shopkeepers and workers of BJP staged a traffic blockade which was later removed following assurance by DSP Yadav that the culprits would soon be nabbed.