KOLKATA: A 34-year-old woman, residing near Ajeyo Sanghati club at Haridevpur in southwest Kolkata, was allegedly attacked with an “acid-like substance over a property dispute” while she was returning home on Wednesday evening. The woman, who received injuries on her face, was stated to be out of danger and was released from MR Bangur Hospital on Thursday.Police have arrested the survivor’s 42-year-old sister and her 19-year-old son from Sanjberia in Narendrapur in the wee hours of Thursday for their alleged involvement in the incident. Cops said initial probe revealed that a property dispute between the two sisters was behind the incident and that this was the first time that an acid-attack case in Kolkata turned out to be a fallout of property dispute.According to the police, the woman — a widow — had crossed the club office and reached its rear side when she was confronted by her elder sister and her son on Banamali Banerjee Road. Police said that after a brief argument, the two accused, who were barefoot, threw “acid-like substance used as a toilet cleaner” on her face. As the woman cried for help, the accused managed to flee. She was rushed to MR Bangur Hospital where doctors admitted her at the emergency ward.“We have recorded the survivor’s statement where she alleged that she was having a major financial dispute with her sister. The accused had been changing too many homes but we managed to nab them from an urban village area close to Bishnupur,” said an investigating officer of Haridevpur police that have lodged an FIR. “Doctors have told us that this was not pure acid and hence they are hopeful that the victim would recover,” said a police source.The last recorded acid attack happened in Kolkata in 2018 at Anandapur. In 2017, there was an acid attack attempt on a 25-year-old woman in Behala’s Parnasree. In fact, the first acid attack case was recorded in Kolkata in 2016, when two such incidents took place in the city.NCRB annual crime report shows that 2016 recorded 283 incidents and 307 victims under sections 326A (acid attack) and 326B (attempt to carry out acid attack) of the IPC in India. Twenty-six percent of the incidents and 27% of the victims were from West Bengal . In comparison, during the same period, Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state with over double the population of Bengal, recorded 57 incidents and 61 victims.Sources, though, said there had been a decline in acid attacks in Bengal in the past two years. “There are now specific goals to cut down on such attacks,” an official from Nabanna said.The Acid Survivors and Women Welfare Foundation (ASWWF) had earlier claimed that Bengal recorded 220 such cases between 2010 and 2016, which is about 20% of all cases recorded in the country.

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