Awarding compensation of Rs 12 lakh to a victim of acid attack, a Delhi court said it was unfortunate that acid was easily available and was being rampantly misused.
Additional district judge Kamini Lau said the situation was worse due to a total lack of legal guarantee of free medical care, rehabilitation and adequate compensation scheme for the acid attack survivors.
The judge directed Sarai Rohilla resident Vipin Jain to pay '12 lakh as damages to his cousin, Yogesh Jain, who he had attacked with acid in January 2005.
According to the details revealed in the court, Vipin had called Yogesh from behind when he was on way to market with a friend and threw acid on him, which severely damaged his face, right eye and other parts of the body. Vipin was convicted by a trial court and given a five-year jail term. He has filed an appeal against his sentence.
The two families were involved in a property dispute and professional rivalry as both had similar pharmaceutical business.
The court noted that plaintiff has already spent '5 lakh on his treatment and '20 lakh more is to be paid for skin grafting and plastic surgery and he has to undergo around 10 more surgeries.
“When I saw Yogesh in the court, I did not need any other proof of the horrendous incident of acid attack or his sufferings as evident from his photographs,” the judge said and referred to the reports of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) saying 75-80 per cent of the acid attack victims are women.
“Sadly, our country and, in particular, our state Delhi have always been the centrepoint for these attacks as ascertained on the basis of the reports gathered by the NCRB from 2010 onwards. It is ironical that under the cover of rights, while the perpetrator walks free most of the time and leads a normal life, the faceless victims/survivors suffer trauma, loneliness and ostracisation throughout their life, everyday and every minute,” the judge said. Regarding an amendment in the IPC which has inserted Section 326 A as punishment for throwing acid, the court said it has been made gender neutral and even a male victim of the attack is covered in it.
