Mumbai: India’s top court has approved a financial support system for all victims of acid attacks and rape across the country, with compensations ranging between Rs500,000 (Dh27,209) and Rs2 million.
A Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said the mandatory scheme, prepared by the National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) in consultation with the federal government, would be enforced in all Indian provinces.
The financial relief granted under the scheme is not linked with the trial in such cases, and the victim can approach the state legal services authority for compensation immediately after the incident. The landmark scheme also empowers the legal services authority to take suo motu cognizance of cases of sexual assault and acid attack to grant interim relief to victims.
Despite stricter laws and punishments, the number of acid attacks in India has dramatically risen in recent years, with some attacks perpetrated by jealous family members and others by men who seek to target women who reject their advances. According to the Acid Survivors Foundation India (ASFI), while at least 106 such acid attacks were reported in 2012, that figure crossed 500 by 2015. Activists say that with many cases going unreported, the estimated number of acid attacks across India annually could cross 1,000.
A key reason behind the increasing attacks is the easy availability of sulphuric, nitric and hydrochloric acids, which continue to be sold due to lax monitoring. “These are still easily available in the market,” Pranali Shah, senior manager at ASFI, told Gulf News.
“That is why we are planning to begin sting operations to catch the offenders.
“The main reasons that lead to acid attacks are the usual litany of interpersonal woes — jilted in love, conservative male spouses/families wanting to mete out punishment to women for not staying within prescribed socio-cultral confines and, in the case of men who are victims of acid attacks, it is usually due to jealousy and rivalry,” said Shah.
According to the Supreme Court, in case of disfigurement of face, a victim of acid attack would get a compensation of between Rs700,000 and Rs800,000. If the injury is more than 50 per cent, the minimum compensation would be Rs500,000, while in case of rape and unnatural sexual assault, the victim would get a minimum of Rs400,000 and maximum of Rs700,000. However, the court made it clear that state governments would be free to add more compensation over the minimum stipulated in the scheme. “We make it clear that the scheme prepared by the Nalsa will not preclude the states and union territories from giving more compensation… we direct that the scheme be implemented in all states and union territories,” the bench said.
The Nalsa had earlier urged the court that the authority be given autonomous power to grant compensation to such victims and called for mandatory reporting of sexual assault and acid attack cases. According to the authority, barely 10 per cent of acid attack and sexual assault victims across India were getting compensated under existing schemes in various states.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, assisting the court as an amicus curiae, told the bench that only nine states had received the money under the Nirbhaya Fund instituted after the 2012 gangrape and murder of a medical student in New Delhi, and claimed that the federal government was blocking the funds. However, additional solicitor-general Pinky Anand, appearing for the central government, said it had disbursed Rs9.2 billion under the fund, which was set up by India in 2013 to support women’s safety initiatives across the country.
One of the grim aspects of acid attacks in India is that many of them occur in small towns and rural areas, where access to immediate medical care is limited. With not even first aid available, victims must be eventually taken to larger city hospitals or to the capital New Delhi for better treatment.
“Even from Delhi, the survivors need to go to specialised eye hospitals in Hyderabad or Chennai,” Shah observed.
While the Supreme Court directive on mandatory compensation would be a welcome relief for many victims, the government money comes slow and “families turn to NGOs for support” or try to cover the expenses themselves, said Shah.
“All funds for plastic surgery are deposited with the hospital. Some of the best hospitals treating acid burns in Mumbai are Masina, JJ and Bombay Hospital.”
— With inputs from PTI
Why are acid attacks so common in India?
• Though Indian law is stringent on acid attackers and the government banned the sale of acid in 2013, such attacks on women continue — and experts say the easy availability of acid through retail outlets is one key reason.
• Alok Dixit of Stop Acid Attacks, which also runs a unique shelter home called Chhanv for victims to meet, celebrate and learn, said: “We should not treat this violence in isolation — acid is just another weapon. It is important we treat it as a women’s issue. The Supreme Court’s directions state that the sale of acid should be monitored by the district administration but nothing has happened.”
• In 2013, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the government to limit over-the-counter acid sales to people over 18. But activists argue that the federal and local governments have failed to implement rules governing the sale of acid in the country. This has resulted in acid continuing to remain available everywhere at a very low price.
• One of Chhanv team members, Durga Prasad Shukla, has been filing Right To Information (RTI) petitions on behalf of the campaign on the sale of acid and zeroed in on Agra and Lucknow for serious lapses. They found that not only were the top court’s directions not followed but the district administration in Lucknow was clueless about the sale.
• To underline how people are careless about acid, Dixit says, “A three-year-old accompanying her parents to a jewellery shop in Darjeeling, West Bengal, sniffed a bottle of acid left carelessly on the counter. She was brought to Delhi in a critical state for treatment and is presently staying with us at the Chhanv centre.”
• An offshoot of acid violence is that children are caught amidst these spiteful attacks. Julie Kumari from Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh was just four when her father flew into a rage, and threw acid at her mother but it fell on Julie instead, leaving her with 40 per cent burns on her face, neck, chest and arm.
• Last September, Miss Universe Great Britain Anna Maria Burdzy who visited Sheroes Hangout Cafe in Lucknow met 7-year-old Julie and said she would personally fund her education. “But we are in a fix as she lives in a remote village of UP where her family is not cooperative.”
Fighting the stigma with fashion
The stigma of a scarred face and curious stares from the public can lead to distress and that is why NGOs involved in their rehabilitation encourage survivors to come out and participate in fashion shows. Walking the ramp last year as a show stopper for designer Disha Chadha at the Asian Designer Week, Ritu Saini says with a laugh, “Achha laga [Felt good]. I felt proud and it was a dream come true since I always wanted to do modelling.”
AFSI, which campaigned at Viviana Mall, Thane, also had its survivors participating in a fashion show where “our survivors attracted more attention than the celebrities present. Like any girl, these young women, too, want to deck up, get their hair done and look beautiful. Walking the ramp gave them so much confidence.”
It’s also an opportunity to create awareness on the safety of women, she adds.
Laxmi Agarwal, an acid attack survivor fighting for their rights and who was a guest at this show held on the eve of International Women’s Day this year, says the scars are a reminder of the narrow-minded mindset of society but that will not deter them from getting ahead in life. Her public interest litigation in the Supreme Court sought a ban on free sale of acid and compensation for the survivors. Laxmi and Dixit, both in their late 20s fell in love in 2014. They have a daughter, Pihu.
Grim numbers
225 acid attacks in India in 2014
249 in 2015
307 in 2016
