{"id":9588,"date":"2014-03-10T10:32:44","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T10:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/?p=9588"},"modified":"2014-03-10T10:50:52","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T10:50:52","slug":"with-sheer-grit-haseena-moves-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/?p=9588","title":{"rendered":"With sheer grit, Haseena moves on"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Haseena<\/a>
Haseena Hussain.\/ File photo: K.Gopinathan \/ The Hindu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We want society to be humane to us: acid attack victim<\/h2>\n

Earlier this week, Laxmi, a\u00a0victim\u00a0of acid attack, was awarded the\u00a0International Women\u00a0of Courage Award by U.S.\u2019s First Lady Michelle Obama for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on\u00a0women in India.<\/p>\n

The story of Haseena Hussain of Bangalore, who fought a long battle after an acid attack in 1999, is as inspiring as Laxmi\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Ms. Haseena was attacked with acid in 1999 by Joseph Rodriguez, her\u00a0former\u00a0employer, as she had not responded to the\u00a0marriage proposal\u00a0and had refused to stay back in his firm. Today, almost 15 years later, Ms. Haseena is the sole breadwinner of her family of four comprising her father, mother and grandmother.<\/p>\n

Choosing not to be bogged down by 35\u00a0surgeriesand\u00a0loss of vision\u00a0in both eyes, besides constant \u201cstares\u201d and comments from relatives and acquaintances, she now works in a government office. When asked if she was offered the job by the government, an irked Ms. Haseena says: \u201cI got this job on my own. I cleared several rounds of tests after undergoing computer training.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Haseena hates re-living what she calls \u201csob story\u201d and says that she hopes every acid attack victim is able to fight the odds and become independent. \u201cAs I was educated, I was able to secure a job. But acid victims, particularly in rural areas, may find it difficult to be independent. Most acid attack victims lose their vision. If the government provides\u00a0jobs, they can remain independent.\u201d<\/p>\n

She adds categorically that she needs no sympathy. \u201cWe only want society to behumane\u00a0to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides the discrimination she faced in society, her family had a tough time mobilising resources for her surgeries and other\u00a0medical aid. \u201cMy father had to\u00a0sell our house\u00a0and his entire bank balance was empty as we had to spend Rs. 15 lakh on my medical expenses.\u201d Though the Supreme Court had directed all States to pay acid attack victims Rs. 3 lakh towards medical treatment and for after care rehabilitation, Ms. Haseena says it is inadequate.<\/p>\n

It was nine years after the attack of Ms. Haseena that the\u00a0accused\u00a0was finally convicted, even as she struggled every minute of those years. \u201cThere is a need to have a\u00a0fast track\u00a0court for trying cases related to acid attack victims,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

source: http:\/\/www.thehindu.com \/ The Hindu \/ Home> News> Cities> Bangalore \/ by Tanu Kulkarni \/ Bangalore – March 07th, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We want society to be humane to us: acid attack victim Earlier this week, Laxmi, a\u00a0victim\u00a0of acid attack, was awarded the\u00a0International Women\u00a0of Courage Award by U.S.\u2019s First Lady Michelle Obama for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on\u00a0women in India. The story of Haseena Hussain of Bangalore, who fought a long battle after an … Continue reading With sheer grit, Haseena moves on<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,77,320],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazing-feats","category-inspiration-positive-news-and-features","category-world-opinion"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9588"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9590,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9588\/revisions\/9590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bangalorefirst.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}