Police have arrested a woman on suspicion of pouring acid on her husband in Tarekshwar Municipality, Kathmandu.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Ranjit Singh Rathour, chief of the Metropolitan Police Circle, Balaju, said on Thursday that the woman, identified as 29-year-old Parmila Thapa, was currently in custody on the charge of pouring corrosive liquid on her husband Ram Raja Thapa, 24, on Monday night. 

The incident took place inside the couple’s rented room in Old Guheshwari area. Police said there were no one else in the room other than the couple and their three-month-old baby. 

“As the door and the windows were shut from inside, we suspect the wife’s involvement,” Rathour said.

Ram Raja told police from the hospital bed that he was attacked by Parmila.

“We have already secured the judicial remand against Parmila, but she has refused to talk so far,” Rathour said.

Parmila could face a jail term from three to eight years and fined a Rs 300,000 to Rs 500,000 if convicted as per the Criminal Code 2017.

Ram Raja is currently being treated at the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj for burns injuries in his face and hand. His condition is said to be stable. 

According to the couple’s landlord and the neighbours, the husband and wife had been going through marital dispute for a long time. 

They said Ram Raja, who drives a passenger van between Kathmandu and Dharan, did not come home regularly and Parmila suspected him of having an extra-marital affair.

“She might have attacked her husband in a fit of rage,” one police officer told the Post.

Police recovered a bottle containing acid from the couple’s room. Rathour said they were still investigating the source of the acid. 

Despite repeated incidents of acid attacks in the country, there is no regulation in place to control the sale and distribution of acid. 

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Shailesh Thapa Kshetri, spokesperson for the Nepal Police, said since acid can be easily procured in the market, it was difficult to prevent acid attack incidents. 

Just a day before the acid attack on Ram Raja, a woman, 51, was attacked by corrosive liquid by her neighbour in Maharajgunj Municipality in Kapilvastu. Police have arrested Hari Narayan Barai, owner of a battery repair shop, in connection to the incident.

According to the data provided by the Nepal Police, as many as 19 cases related to acid attacks have been registered in the past six fiscal years. Out of them, four were registered in 2014/15, two in 2015/16, one in 2016/17, four in 2017/18 and four in 2018/19.

There have been four incidents of acid attack so far this fiscal year, police said.