Valentine's Day 2018: Acid attack survivor gets engaged with beau

Love truly conquered all present at a city cafe run by acid attack survivors when one of them got engaged to be married with her beau on Valentine's Day, in a first such alliance the country has seen.       

Pramodini Roul, 24, called Rani, and her fiancé Saroj Kumar Sahu, 26, exchanged rings in a glittering ceremony to hearty cheers from well-wishers at Sheroes Hangout.

About 20 acid assault survivors and Roul's friends danced to popular Bollywood tunes to celebrate the beginning of an extraordinary union. For two days, city-based choreographer Kristina trained the survivors and helped them deliver a perfect performance on the D-day.

The event saw media jostling to catch every moment.

Rani's life turned upside down on May 4, 2009, when a paramilitary jawan in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur threw acid on her after she rejected his marriage proposal. Rani, then 16, suffered 80 per cent burns and lost her vision. She was in ICU for nine months and spent five agonizing years in hospitals in Cuttack. Her widowed mother nursed her back to health. She met the love of her life, Saroj, then a medical representative, while undergoing treatment at a nursing home in 2014.

"She had lost her vision and was unable to walk. I felt she needed my support. Initially, she resisted my presence, but I continued caring for her. I left my job to give her more time and attention. I fell in love and I saw it in her eyes too," recalls Saroj.

When she could walk, Rani joined Sheroes' help desk in 2015. Saroj quit his job and joined the foundation which runs the cafe chain.

"When he proposed in 2016, I was blind. I had never seen him. After an eye surgery in July 2017, I could see partially. We decided to get engaged at Sheroes, where I started my first job and a new life, thanks to Babu," said Rani.