Taking cognisance of increasing cases of acid attacks on women, in general, and the recent such incidents in Udham Singh Nagar and Pauri districts in particular, the State police are planning to deal with acid attacks under the heinous crime category.
Few days ago, two unidentified motorcycle- borne youths (aged between 25 to 30 years) made an abortive attempt to throw acid on two teen-aged girls in Chelusain village of Kotdwar in Pauri district. Fortunately, acid fell on the cloth of one of the two girls present there.
However, the girls could not identify the bike- borne persons. As Chelusain comes under the revenue area and after Chief Minister’s direction to the State police to solve cases related to women, a case under section 326 B of IPC was registered in lansdowne Police Station. Teams have been formed and they began searching the accused.
On 29 November this year, Farhan, native of Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) threw acid on his girl friend in Udham Singh Nagar after she turned down his marriage proposal. The accused was caught and booked under section 326 A and 307 of IPC in Jaspur police station. The accused was sent to jail after being produced in the court.
A police officer said that earlier, case related to acid attacks was registered under sections 354 and 307 of IPC and other sections, depending on the nature of offences.
Section 354 of IPC deals with assault or criminal force applied on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. Section 307 of IPC, on the other hand, deals with attempts to murder.
State DGP BS Sidhu said, “As cases related to acid attacks keep increasing across the country in the recent past, a few such cases have been reported in the State too. Such cases will be dealt with seriously. We have decided to send a circular to the district police heads, directing them to book the accused under sections 326 A and 326 B of IPC in the police stations concerned . The Section 326 A in the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for acid throwing. The minimum punishment is 10 years imprisonment. The section 326 B in the Indian Penal Code lays down the punishment for attempted acid throwing. The minimum punishment is 5 years imprisonment.