Meerut: A sessions court in Sambhal has sentenced a 25-year-old woman and her lover to life imprisonment for planning and executing a 2025 acid attack on a 23-year-old teacher. The court convicted Janhvi alias Archana, a mother of three from Modinagar, and her accomplice Neeshu (26) in what investigators termed a revenge attack after Janhvi’s former partner — a soldier — ended their affair and got engaged to the teacher. The court also fined Neeshu ₹1.20 lakh and Janhvi ₹1 lakh.
During investigation, Neeshu said he got in touch with Janhvi on social media, where she introduced herself as ‘Archana’ and claimed the soldier had married her sister after he had abandoned her.
The soldier started distancing himself from Janhvi on learning that she was already married, and he later got engaged to the teacher, according to police. Neeshu was arrested in an encounter two days after the attack. Neeshu later learnt that Janhvi and ‘Archana’ were the same person.
In its order on Tuesday evening, the Sambhal court said the attack was planned to disfigure an innocent woman over a “trivial” matter; it was neither sudden nor provoked. the court observed: “Victim’s injuries would cause lifelong mental trauma and hurt her employment prospects While sentencing the convict. Such acid attacks spread fear in society.”