She braved acid attack to protect her foetus

Her husband poured acid on her genitals to kill the unborn child after she refused to undergo a sex determination test during her sixth pregnancy

When Reshma, a mother of five girls, conceived for the sixth time, she knew that the time ahead would be difficult, for the family’s craving for a male child had reached its peak.

Little did she know that an ordeal was in store for her which would ruin her life and that of her daughters as well.

She was forced to get sex selection of the foetus done. But she refused, fearing that if it were a female, she would have to abort it.

And then, her husband, a driver in Nakkhas area here, threw acid on her private parts in a bid to kill the unborn baby. “He said that he wouldn’t tolerate the birth of a sixth girl in the family and burnt my private parts to harm the foetus,” recalled Reshma, who is now a part of the Sheroes Hangout-a café managed by acid attack survivors in Lucknow.

The barbaric act took place in the early stages of her pregnancy, in 2013. “I underwent tremendous pain. A child in my womb and my private parts badly burnt---the mere thought still gives me goose bumps,” she recalled.

Despite the suffering, Reshma continued her pregnancy and gave birth to a male child. But when the boy was born, there was no one by her side to share the joy. Her husband was behind bars and the five daughters were with their paternal aunts.

“After the acid attack, my daughters called up my father in Kanpur and asked him to take me with him. My condition was really serious and my husband and his relatives had refused to get me any medical treatment,” recalled Reshma.

While Reshma was with her parents, her sisters-in-law threatened her daughters and told them to not talk to Reshma. As a result, the girls refuse to meet her and talk to her now.

“My eldest daughter is 16 years old now. I haven’t met my girls for three years. They have seen me undergoing the pain and so I refuse to believe that my girls are against me. I know they have been threatened,” she said.

Even when she lived with her husband, Reshma reared the girls single-handedly. She would do stitching to keep the home fires burning, as her husband refused to support her in bringing up the girls.

Now, once again, after surgeries and counselling, Reshma is back in action.

She has joined the café and would soon introduce her veg kebab paratha and biryani in the menu.

“Now that I am independent, I want my daughters back. I have been longing to meet them for long. I pray to god to give me my daughters back as they are still my pride,” she said.