Government must crack down on acid attacks
It is a matter of concern that our lawmakers have consistently failed to effectively tackle the menace of acid attacks, in which the victims are largely women. It appears that they do not consider the crime grave enough to put mechanisms in place to confront the issue. They perhaps believe that the incidents are too few to merit much attention: From 2010 to 2012, the number of reported acid attack cases in the country was 225. What else explains their sitting on the matter for more than seven months after the Supreme Court asked the State Governments to frame rules to regulate the sale of acid in the open market, to prevent the misuse of the chemical substanceIJ While a few States have taken tentative steps in the direction, there has been no real movement on the ground. Disgusted with the state of affairs, the Supreme Court has now issued notices to the Centre and the State Governments on a petition filed by a victim on regulating the sale of acid. Perhaps sensing the laxity of Governments, the apex court had earlier passed an order which prohibited the sale of acid without a licence and made it compulsory for sellers to maintain a record of the buyers of the substance. Not just that, the court had directed that the sellers would have to report the sale to the nearest police stations within three days of the deal. These directives have been followed in the breach. Since the authorities have not taken any punitive measure despite the directives being flouted, the illegality has continued unabated. It remains to be seen if the fresh initiative the Supreme Court has taken on the Public Interest litigation that the victim, laxmi Saa, has filed, will move the Centre and the State regimes to act. laxmi Saa is perhaps the best known public face of the hundreds of victims of acid violence across the country. She has been canvassing relentlessly against the free sale of acid, and has bagged the International Woman of Courage award. She along with a colleague runs an organisation which fights for the rights and rehabilitation of acid attack victims. She became the target when she was just 16, but unlike many others, she fought back her trauma and emerged as a leading voice nationally and globally against the crime.
last December, the apex court had set a deadline of March 31, 2014, for the State Governments to formulate rules to regulate the sale of acid. The court was disturbed by the pattern that an overwhelmingly large number — around 80 per cent, according to some reports — of these attacks had been executed by ‘jilted' men. The Supreme Court had also issued interim directions to the Governments on related issues such as the payment of after-care and rehabilitation costs as well as compensation to the victims. It's a national shame that we have so far failed to rise to the occasion.