JOIN USThe Supreme Court’s order to the Central and state governments to update it on measures they have taken to restrict the sale of acid will hopefully goad the latter to begin taking steps to prevent this horrific crime.
In recent years, more men have begun using acid as a weapon against women, especially when spurned. Easy availability of acid facilitates the use of acid as a weapon. The apex court order was long overdue, since governments have been dragging their feet in checking the sale of acid.
The court has also asked them to come up with a comprehensive plan for compensation of victims of acid attacks. India figures among the countries with the largest number of acid attacks due the governments’ non-serious approach. The National Crime Records Bureau has no idea of the exact number of acid attacks that takes place as it doesn’t record such crimes separately. NGOs working with victims say that at least a hundred women are subjected to acid attacks in the country annually.
The Bangalore-based Campaign and Struggle against Acid Attacks on Women says that Karnataka alone saw 65 cases of acid attacks between 1999 and 2008.
Acid attacks should be treated as a separate category of violent crime. It is an extraordinary crime as the victim is disfigured and life becomes a living hell. While some victims do die after being attacked with acid, most of them survive but are denied a normal life as it destroys the person, physically and psychologically. So damaging is the impact of acid that the face of a person melts and the head gets fused to the shoulder.
So terrible is its impact that many victims prefer not to live and take their own lives. An acid attack is thus far worse than pre-meditated murder. It must be dealt with as such.
Restricting sale of acid is only the first step. We need a separate and specific law to punish offenders. Stringent punishment including life imprisonment is required.
Although the Law Commission recommended separate legislation in 2008, a separate and stern law to tackle acid attacks is still to see the light of day. To ease the suffering of victims we need to provide them with maximum support. Generous compensation and rehabilitation will ease their transformation from victims to survivors.