Toddler among 3 refugees injured in acid attack; 1 held

New Delhi: A Syrian refugee and his toddler son, as well as a Sudanese national, suffered burns when they were attacked with acid allegedly by a resident in Vikaspuri, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place on September 30 near the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in the west Delhi area, police said. The men were discharged the same day but child was kept under treatment as he had received 10 per cent burns in his chest, neck and eyes, they said. He was discharged today.

Rakesh Kumar, a local, has been arrested in the matter, according to a police statement. The FIR, a copy of which is accessed by PTI, revealed the identity of the victims as 11-month-old Ibrahim, his father Raft Abmohimid, and Nabil Omar Akbar, both aged 28. “The boy was treated on OPD basis. He was admitted with ten per cent chemical burns around a week or so. He was treated and was shifted from the ICU on October 5 to the ward. The child was discharged today. He will be coming twice a week for dressing,” a source from Safdarjung hospital said. On September 30, during an argument between the refugees and local residents, Rakesh Kumar threw some chemical at the three refugees and the tent where they live, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Vichitra Veer said.

The fight and the subsequent acid attack were captured in a CCTV footage recovered from the spot. The attacker was accompanied by two more men, the FIR stated. The DCP said the liquid has been suspected to be phenyl, but the exact composition will be established only after a chemical examination. Raft has been living in India for the past few years and moved to Delhi two years ago from Bengaluru with his wife, a Thailand national, and son Ibrahim, a police source said. Police in a statement said refugees frequent the UNHRC office in Vikaspuri seeking work and shelter and often raise slogans, which has been objected to by some locals. “Refugees go there from time to time, asking for work and shelter. Many a times, they raise slogans also, which causes disturbance to the local residents. On that day also, there was a heated argument between the refugees and the security guard deployed there, leading to the incident,” the police statement read.

After the incident, Brave Souls Foundation, a south Delhi-based NGO led by acid attack survivors, extended help to Raft and his son.

Shaheen Malik, a founder of the NGO, said police’s filing the case under lighter sections betrayed how insensitive they were to refugees. In the wake of the incident, an FIR under section 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 124(2) (acid attack) was registered at Vikaspuri Police Station. She said the child has been shifted to a private hospital and that the NGO’s advocate Ali Zia Kabir is providing legal aid to Ibrahim’s father in the case.