After surviving acid attack by husband, woman awaits biopsy

In a small rented house in Nellikuppam near Guduvanchery, about 45km from Chennai, a 41-year-old acid attack victim is readying for her third biopsy. Kanmanipriya's small intestine, pancreas and other organs were burned when her husband forced her to drink acid in 2004. He took care of the initial hospital expenses before fleeing to Malaysia. A recent test revealed Kanmanipriya is suffering from cancer and she has to undergo one more test to clarify it. Kanmanipriya got married at 14. Unable to bear the torture from her husband, she got a divorce and started living with her younger son. The older one went with his father. A couple of years later, some friends suggested remarriage and she agreed. Before the marriage, she told her fiance K Issac that she wouldn't be able to conceive as she had a tubectomy. Issac agreed initially but later started torturing her for a child. On June 5, 2004, Issac forced Kanmanipriya to drink acid. "It was a horrible experience. I felt my whole body burning. My husband told me not to report the matter to police. So when they came to the hospital, I told them I drank the acid by mistake," said Kanmanipriya. During her fourth bypass surgery in 2006, her husband ran off to Malaysia. Since then, life has become hell for her. "The burning pain kills me. I have vomited thousands of times." She now lives with her son James Samuel Dharmaraj and her 63-year-old mother. An MCC alumnus, Dharmaraj earns just 7,000 per month. Kanmanipriya needs to undergo endoscopy twice a year, each session costing 10,000-15,000. Recently, the doctor saw blood clots in her vomit and wondered if there were cancerous cells in her body. "A biopsy was done and one more is to be done to clarify it," she said. But where will she get money? "I don't have a job. My son's salary is not enough to run the family."