Laxmi Agarwal (born 1 June 1990) was born in New Delhi in a poor family.
Laxmi Agarwal – She is an Indian acid attack survivor, a campaigner for rights of acid attack victims, and a TV host. She was attacked in 2005 in New Delhi at the age of 15.
Organization – The Laxmi Foundation (known for Stop Acid Sale campaign)
Case – In 2005, tragedy came when Laxmi was 15 years old and an 11th-grade student, she was approached by a man working in her neighborhood, Naeem Khan, who was 32 years old. He proposed to Laxmi but she rejected him. She did not inform anyone about this because her family would’ve blamed her and stopped her studies. Ten months later, Laxmi Agrawal, was returning from Khan market at 10:45 in the morning when she received the same message from Naeem that he loves her and wants to marry her. She did not respond. In no time, she was attacked with acid by Naeem and Kamran (Naeem’s older brother). Kamran called Laxmi’s name from behind while riding his motorcycle. When Laxmi looked behind as a response to her name, Naeem threw acid directly at her face from the backseat. Laxmi fainted and after regaining consciousness, she tried to walk up and ask for help but met multiple road accidents.
A man named Arun Singh called the police, but he saw her skin melting from the acid, he realised it might be too late to wait for assistance. Some people splashed water on her face hoping to reduce the burns, this caused the acid to move down and burn her neck. Arun, then somehow got her in the back seat of his car. This later caused burn holes in the seat covers. He admitted her to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The police reached the hospital directly. Arun then asked Laxmi about her family and where she lived. He reached her house, informed her family, and took them from their house to the hospital. She underwent multiple operations including eye surgery. Four days after the attack, Naeem Khan was arrested, but was bailed out a month later. He married off immediately. However, after widespread protests and media attention, he was sentenced to prison for life.
