Acid attack is the most heinous crime where it was observed that the victim suffers due to rejecting another person or wherever she stands against anyone, she is subject to acid attack.
As per the data in 2014, the country witnessed 282 acid attacks out of which 185 attacks were in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 53 attacks in Madhya Pradesh while 11 attacks in Gujarat.
Many a time, the offender admits that he wanted the victim to suffer the whole life so he does the same by throwing acid attack.
The attack leaves a permanent mark on the body of the victim, not even the society lets her live happily. So, the government took a step & made provisions for punishing such offenders.
Laxmi v. Union of India, AIR 2015 SC 3662
In this case, the Supreme Court gave certain guidelines to be followed while dealing with acid attack victims –
- Acid attack victims should be given Rs 3 lakhs as a compensation . The State and Union Territories were given order to make an amendment accordingly.
- Free treatment should be given to the victims which includes availability of bed, medicines and food. Both the government and private hospitals need to provide free treatment.
- Freely availability of acid and its Sale should be prevented and acid should be given after verifying the certificate.
Special provision was also inserted by Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 13 of 2013 which added Section 326 A and 326 B of Indian Penal Code
Section 326 A of Indian Penal Code talks about voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid. The punishment under this section is imprisonment for a term not less than 10 years. However, it may extend to life imprisonment along with a fine.
While Section 326 B talks about voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid. The punishment under this section is imprisonment for a term not less than 5 years and may extend to 7 years along with fine.
