laws fail acid test as attacks continue
There are laws, rules and even mandates in some states to curb the incidents of acid attacks but their poor implementation has failed to prove a deterrent for the attackers. lawyers and activists univocally said despite the amendment in the criminal law to deal with acid attacks, the incidents have only risen alarmingly. They, instead, felt that the delivery of justice in such cases needs to be fast-tracked which is too slow at present. According to senior lawyers, the paperwork is in place but the implementation takes so long, that the case gets lost in thin air. The Government has also made laws more stringent amounting to even a life sentence along with a hefty fine in acid attack cases.
The law dealing with acid attacks was changed in the Criminal law (Amendment) Act, 2013. Though such a law did exist even earlier, the amendment increased the quantum of punishment to over 10 years and up to a maximum of life imprisonment for perpetrators. The fine too went up to Rs10 lakh. However, this change in law has not helped because of slow investigations and a dragged enquiry into the crime.
Senior advocate HS Phoolka emphasised on sensitisation over the issue of acid attacks. He even lamented that the compensation awarded to victims of acid attacks was too less to meet their medical expenses. “The major concern for many regarding acid attacks is that there is no sensitization of the issue in society. The victims are not given enough compensation which looks after their treatment and counseling. The accused should be made to pay for the compensation to the victim. There are a lot of facets of the victim’s life that get ruined after an acid attack and the accused should compensate in monetary terms at least,” said Phoolka.
Acid attack victim, laxmi, feels that fast track courts should handle these cases. “The impact of an acid attack is more than any heinous crime. It haunts a woman for life. Not only her, it also haunts the family. If justice is received life for the victims can also be improved because it can pull her out of depression. However, because the cases take so long to solve, there is a very casual attitude about acid attacks that has set in,” she said.
Alok Dixit from the Stop Acid Attacks campaign said that the incidents of acid attacks would only stop if there is assured justice. “There is no need for change in law, but there needs to be speedy justice. The Supreme Court has called acid attacks a heinous crime, however, it still takes 10-15 years for cases to be solved. Investigations take too much time and then the case is left with half-baked information which doesn’t get processed for years. The accused in such cases does not get punished,” said Dixit.