Acid attack is the act of throwing corrosive acid on body of others which damages or melts the skin and flesh of affected area. Acid attack is one of the most prevalent crimes against women. It is a great social evil. It is a sort of worst infliction on other human. It is a disgusting to hear of such acid attackers when people with mutilated faces share their horrific stories.Acid attack is the act of throwing corrosive acid on body of others which damages or melts the skin and flesh of affected area. Acid attack is one of the most prevalent crimes against women. It is a great social evil. It is a sort of worst infliction on other human. It is a disgusting to hear of such acid attackers when people with mutilated faces share their horrific stories.
Piyali Dutta is one of the victims of this crime. She is a 23-year-old girl with a scaring face. She wasn’t born with these scars. Ugly wrinkles on her face form a part of her identity now. A resident of Shyamnagar—a small town in North 24 Parganas, Piyali Dutta was left with a disfigured face at the age of nine. Another story is of Sonali Mukherjee. She was just seventeen years old when she became the victim of acid attack. Some boys entered her house and threw acid on her body leaving her partially blind and deaf. Sonali had won a prize money of Rs 25 lakhs on the special episode of KBC titled “Doosra Mauka” (a second chance).she even won an online contest conducted by Ministry of women and child empowerment in collaboration with Facebook. She was called to have lunch with President of India on 22 January 2016.
Un-counseled anger and frustration is a major cause for acid attacks. Other reasons for attacks include revenge for a refused marriage proposal, family or land disputes, domestic violence or suspicion of infidelity.One of the biggest problem with acid attack is lack of awareness among people about first aid required in such cases. “Most of us are ignorant about the first aid that is needed in case of acid attack. In such a case, the victim should be immediately washed with copious amount of water for half an hour and urgently transferred to hospital. In most cases, there is no first aid and thus the patient suffers a lot more,” said an activist, Anita D’souza. Some of the ways in which you can give first aid treatment to the victim:Remove contaminated clothes and wash that part of body which has come in contact with acid with huge amount of water. If acid is inside the mouth then spit it out and rinse the mouth out with water. If the acid gets into the eyes then you need to wash the eyes out for at least 15 minutes and then seek medical help.
Cause of Action
Grounds on the basis of which a victim of acid attack can file a case:
1. Permanent or partial damage has been caused to a person because of acid attack.
2. When any deformity has been caused
3. When a body part has been disabled, disfigured or burnt
4. Grievous hurt has been done.
The accused must have intention or knowledge that he is going to cause such injury or hurt in his mind.
Remedies in Law
The Indian Penal Code was modified in 2013 for the first time to add regulations tailored to acid attacks. Prior to insertion of Sections 326A-326B of Indian Penal Code (as recent as 2013), it could only be prosecuted as violence against women. The IPC was amended with the passing of the criminal amendment act 2013.Section 326A of IPC provides that the acid attacker should be sentenced for imprisonment which must not be less than 10 years and which can be extended to life imprisonment and also fine can be imposed. Such fine shall be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses of the treatment of the victim; provided further that any fine imposed under this section shall be paid to the victim.
Section 326B of IPC provides that whosoever tries or attempts to throw acid shall be punished with imprisonment which shall not be less than 5 years and can be extended to 7 years and also fine can be imposed.Section 357B of CrPC provides that the compensation payable by the state government under section 357A shall be in addition to the payment of fine to the victim under section 326A or section 376D of the Indian Penal Code.”Section 357C states that free medical treatment should be provided to the victims of any offence covered under section 326A, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D or section 376E of the Indian Penal Code and shall immediately inform the police of such incident.”
A seventh provision has been made in Criminal Procedure Code under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013 (addition to section 100 of IPC) which states that self defense extends to the apprehension of grievous hurt as a consequence of throwing of acid.
The government of India is in the process of passing a legislation which recognizes survivors as physically disabled. They will soon be able to get compensation and reservation in education and government jobs. Besides this there have been regulations put on sale of acids by the hon’ble supreme court from time to time.
National commission for women has an online complaint registration system (introduced in the year 2005) available on website: http://ncw.nic.in/onlinecomplaintsv2/frmHome.aspx. This system also provides for speedy and easy registration of complaints on commission’s email address ncw@nic.in from any part of India or the World. The Non-Resident Indians Cell of NCW also registers complaints online on http://ncw.nic.in/frmNRICell.aspx .
Some of the NGOs working for welfare of acid attack victims are:
1 Acid Survivors Foundation of India (asfi)
2 Atijeevan foundation.
