Acid throwing, also called an acid attack or vitriolage, is a form of violent assault. It is defined as the act of throwing acid onto the body of a person "with the intention of injuring or disfiguring out of jealousy or revenge". Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims, usually at their faces, burning them, and damaging skin tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones. The long term consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body.
These attacks are most common in Cambodia, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and other nearby countries. Globally, at least 1500 people in 20 countries are attacked in this way yearly, 80% of whom are female and somewhere between 40% and 70% under 18 years of age.
Read more about Acid Throwing: Attacks in South Asia, Legislation, Victims and Treatment
Famous quotes containing the word throwing:
“Nothing more powerfully excites any affection than to conceal some part of its object, by throwing it into a kind of shade, which at the same time that it shows enough to prepossess us in favour of the object, leaves still some work for the imagination.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)