Nitish Kumar, a 16 year old boy (who, incidentally, is the namesake of the Bihar Chief Minister), from a village in Gaya district,  is currently swathed in bandages at Apollo Burn Hospital in Patna. Over 55 percent of his body has no skin. His skin peeled off from the neck downwards, after ‘unidentified’ men on a motorbike drenched him with corrosive liquid (locally known as acid).

Media silence is deafening

The incident took place more than a month ago. Except for some disturbing photographs being shared in some social media groups, and a couple of reports on some foreign websites, there has been a deafening media silence. This crime has not been covered by the local press, the NGOs who are so great at championing the causes of acid-attack victims are silent, no citizens’ groups appear affected.

On Aug, 11 three unidentified men on a motorbike threw the liquid on Nitish Kumar as he was returning home , from his early morning routine of purchasing fresh vegetables. This took place near Kamta Nagar village in  Gaya District, about 750 metres from his house.

When Newsnet One  reporter Abhay visited the Apollo Hospital, he managed to speak with the boy. Nitish initially thought they had mischievously thrown water on him, he said.

“But soon my skin began to burn,” Nitish told our reporter “The burning sensation increased with every passing second. I dropped the basket and ran towards my house screaming and howling in panic.”

The motorbike did not stop, and in his pain, he had no way of trying to see its license plate, “I don’t know who they were,” he said.

The acid has  burned 55 per cent of his body, with 15 per cent serious burns  while, his face is untouched. said Sushma Sharma, a hospital volunteer treating Kumar.

Abhinash Lal, from Anishabad, said the fire burned him in back from neck to knees and in front from his lower chest, stomach and groin down to his knees, along with the back of both hands.

Nitish’s mother and two brothers care for him 24 hours a day in the hospital. His father pulls a ‘thela’ or a cycle cart, trying to somehow earn something towards family’s financial needs. The family, who are no well off,  were helped by their community members, but were  able to get Nitish to the hospital in Patna, 90 kilometres from their home, four days after the attack.

Still critical 40 days on

 “ Earlier, He was very, very critical,” said Dr K.N. Tiwari of the burn unit of Appolo Burn Hospital in Patna, Bihar state. “His survival chances were low but now he is better after treatment.”

When they arrived,  Dr. Tiwari had wondered aloud how Nitish was still alive given the extent of his burns.

Dr. Tiwari said Nitish’s wounds are not going heal by on their own.

“There is only one treatment for his condition, and that is skin grafting, but there is not enough skin left on his body to be used except for a socks-length portion on one of his feet and some portion of his chest,”

“The little amount of skin left cannot cover the entire area of his body that is burnt.”

Nitish’s low haemoglobin levels also make skin grafts too risky, he said. Nitish loses much blood with the changing of his dressing every other day, a nurse said.

Sanjeet,  who is a class 9 student and younger than his brother, said that Nitish receives a blood transfusion nearly every three days.

The tension is how to do surgery and from where to gather skin for the graft since so little  is left in the body.

Victim of a Hate Crime and Terror Attack

While the motivation for the attack is yet be known, the Christian community suspects that it is the work of anti-Christian activists in the village.

Nitish and his four brothers, two sisters, mother and father identified as Hindus until two years ago, said Sanjeet. It was after they began identifying as Christians, that they were first questioned, and then harassed.

“A month before the attack, some extremists spread the word in the village that they would expel all the people who follow the Christian faith from the village,” Sanjeet said. “We also heard about it, but it did not deter us from our faith. And suddenly this attack took place.”

Many in their church group  have faced hostilities from anti-Christian hardliners who boast of political backing and influence, he said.

In December last year, some anti-Christian extremists blocked the routes of Christians going to Sunday services in Kurwa and questioned them, he said.

“They would question everybody as to why do they go for prayer,” Sanjeet said. “They used to ask us if we had been given money or another allurement to attend the meetings, or were we forced to do so. So all of us clarified that nobody asks us to come to church. We all go to church of our own will.”

The Kumar family, though poor, probably became targets as they openly identified as Christians, holding prayers  each evening in their home with about 20 others, the brothers Sanjeet and Nitish also went to other places to lead worship services.

“We know that those who belong to Christ have to face persecution and have to take the narrow road to enter into God’s kingdom,” he said.

Though the family were reluctant to go to the police station, it is learnt that a case has been registered under sections 322, 325 and 326 of the Indian Penal Code.

Our reporter Abhay says, “Despite such a big incident, his family members are still living in a scare, a member burned by acid liquid but they have nothing to say about it. The family opted not to report the attack to the police.  This proves that even today in Bihar, when people talk of ‘su-shashan’ (good governance) some people are forced to live under oppression by powerful anti-social elements.

[Based on interviews, media reports etc, by Newsnet Team interns: Nishant and Abhay]

  ACID ATTACK, Bihar, HATE CRIME, naked truth