In the last seven years, Delhi resident Shaheen Malik has helped over 300 women and has connected around 150 of them with Meer Foundation for aid. The Mumbai-based non-profit run by actor Shah Rukh Khan aims to empower and provide financial aid to the survivors of acid attack. Malik, an acid attack survivor herself, says that these are largely gender-based crimes, with 90 per cent of those targeting women, and the perpetrators largely fall within two categories. Husbands who attack their wives over arguments form one. The other is love rejection, i.e. men who assault women who have refused their advances.

“A well known case from Delhi is of [a woman identified only as] Meenakshi, who didn’t reciprocate a man’s feelings. So, he attacked her with acid, disfiguring her face. She was treated and rehabilitated by Meer Foundation,” says Malik, 35. While the judiciary and implementation of laws would be one aspect to preventing acid attacks, the other, and perhaps more important step would be learning to deal with rejection.