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BENGALURU: A 34-year-old woman sustained burns after her husband threw steaming water on her during an argument over refusal to serve him a cup of coffee. The incident took place at the couple’s Doddaballapura residence.

According to sources with the Bengaluru police control room, the woman was crying for help when she called them on the afternoon of April 16 and was referred to Parihar – Vanitha Sahayavani (women’s helpline) at the police commissionerate.

“It was evident the woman caller was in excruciating pain. She told us her husband had poured hot water on her after she refused to make him a cup of coffee,” said BS Saraswathi, senior counsellor at Parihar who received the call.

The victim stays in south Doddaballapura with her husband and child. “The lockdown has been tough on families as tensions have flared between most couples since they remain indoors. In this case, the three-member family is confined to their small home and the husband, a scrap dealer, is facing severe financial crisis with his business being hit,” the counsellor added.

The man had demanded coffee by noon, but his wife refused saying she had a lot of work in the kitchen as the maid had stopped coming due to the lockdown. The couple argued and in a fit of rage, the man grabbed a vessel of boiling water from the stove and poured it on his wife, leaving her with severe burns.

“Neighbours rushed in after hearing her cries and administered first-aid. She then called the police control room,” Saraswathi added.

The Parihar team contacted the woman’s brother, who lives a few kilometres away, and she was sent to a hospital with local police assistance. She is known to have suffered 20% burns and is out of danger. “We have strictly advised the woman and her family to approach the local police in Bengaluru Rural to lodge a complaint against the husband. We are following the case progress,” said Rani Shetty, head of Parihar.

