Acid Attacks in India: Does stringent laws and punishment really placate the trauma of the victims?

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The Thinking Press

8 min readMar 31, 2020

It is quite amusing and surprising at the same time to kind of pitifully realize that India is indeed a country of diverse behaviour. It is the same country where women are venerated when it comes to religious affiliation. It is also the same country where forlorn lovers do not hesitate to commit any act; as heinous as it may be, when women hurt their ego. Pure double-standards, isn’t it? This patriarchal mentality of “ how dare she” has always formed the core of women related crimes over the years. And the act often encapsulates within itself various degrees of relationships including those as intimate as father, brother, husband, etc.

Why do acid attacks happen?

There can be plenty of reasons to it. Let us take the example of Laxmi Agarwal. She was only 16 when the heinous act was committed on her leaving her face and dreams scarred for life. This was a pure case of revenge crime. Laxmi refused to marry her perpetrator leading to the latter throwing acid on her face in a busy marketplace[1]. There can be other reasons too for committing this crime. Other reasons can be professional jealousy and family squabbles. In a case from Uttar Pradesh, Lalita Benbansi was attacked by her sister’s husband’s family as they were unable to pay the dowry agreed upon previously by both the parties. They took it as an insult and instead chose to pour acid on an innocent girl[2]. Mumbai’s Aarti Thakur though faced a different ordeal. She was being followed by an unknown ruffian for quite some time and even got stabbed on her face once. But this time the stranger poured acid over her face at the Goregaon station leaving her face disfigured[3]. On the other hand two sisters, Mumbai’s Daulat Khan and Saira Khan were prey to a failed business deal. A party was trying to crack a plot deal with the sisters and their family but failed as their father refused to hand over the plot of land. In return the two sisters were attacked[4].

So as seen above it is not necessary that acid attacks always has to have a relationship or rejection as a precursory to it. But it is indeed astonishing to even contemplate that how people can stoop down to such inhumane levels for vengeance or begrudging. The Indian society is basically patriarchal in nature and that is quite an established fact. It essentially relays a message that “women are inferior and are meant to be suppressed by male domination”. But whenever any woman tries to break away from these faulty standards or tries to rebuff the domination, they fall prey to such crimes.

Stigmatisation of the acid attack victims in India

We just cannot imagine the torment and trauma faced by the acid attack victims. Laxmi narrated “I could feel my skin peeling off and my visibility getting clouded. After a few moments I experienced a searing pain in the neck area and I realised that the acid had permeated enough, corroded my skin to enter the bones”. She went on with many other gory details which is far beyond our imaginative faculty[5]. But the ordeal for an acid attack victim does not end here. Many victims had to undergo around 25 to 30 surgeries on an average for the reconstruction of sensory organs such as ears and nose. As the soft tissues of the skin corrode and harden after a time, no cosmetic surgery can be done[6]. These surgeries are financially draining for the families of victim. And the mental trauma they face looking at the plight of the victim is a trying affair for them. Now shifting our focus on the victims, they are likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder and may be contemplating frequent attempts at suicide[7]. It does not stop here as well. The society plays an antagonist too. The people become so reactive to such incidents that the victim and her family are often ostracized following the attack. The victims drop out of college either due to the agony of having a deformity or due to the damage caused to their sensory organs. They do not get jobs as no employer wants to employ a “person with a deformed face”. This stigmatization which is etched deep into the minds of the people makes it unbearable for the victims to live in the society[8].

Addressing the social stigma

Even after going through so much and being subjected to regular stigma, there are a few crusaders who tend to bounce back and try leading a normal life at par with others. The biggest example is Laxmi Agarwal. She is actively involved today in the “Stop Acid Attacks Movement” initiated by the Chaanv Foundation in 2013. She has made it her life’s purpose to address the social stigma related to acid attacks and has staged talks with more than hundred acid attack victims around the country[9]. She is out there setting an example and proving that even acid attack victims (she would rather prefer the term survivor) are worthy of jobs which any other person can kick off with.

Around the world 1500 cases of acid attacks are reported each year[10]. And of that India reports at around 250 cases per year[11]. But at the same time there is a growing movement which is trying to resist this vicious piece of crime. There are a few NGOs such as Chaanv Foundation, Make Love Not Scars are certain institutions that are funding treatments of such victims all year round and are specifically devoted to all activities regarding acid attack victims: creating awareness and mitigating social stigma about the victims, procuring jobs and avenues of skill development for the victims, organizing counselling and health training camps with victims and leading movements and initiating petitions against the assailants. Nowadays these organizations have started to rope in celebrities who spread the message for awareness in the society as they always have a better ground in terms of pan-Indian outreach. Another way awareness can be created is by the active role play of the Government through its agencies. Machineries of law and order and public health can be funded to have all India talks with the support of the media[12].

A new way of addressing the stigma in recent trends has been through films. While Hollywood and other Western films have been relatively silent on such issues, Indian filmmaking diaspora has embraced this with open arms. A breakthrough was achieved through Malayali film Uyare (2019). A budding-pilot after being attacked by her possessive lover falls short of a pilot test due to impaired vision caused due to the acid attack. But she bounces back, gets a new perspective in life and enrols herself as an air-hostess with a reputed airline. This fight of the protagonist was very well received achieving two things in process: making a section of the audience more receptive and accepting to the victims. People started to realize the plight and the hurdles that such victims have to go through. And the recently released Hindi film Chhapaak (2020) which is based on the life of Laxmi Agarwal has been exemplary in many aspects as her fight has been phenomenal, which has inspired many and has somewhat brought the social stigma to a pause. It is still prevalent and with time, we can hope that it fades away!

What are the laws regulating acid attacks? Are they doing enough to bring the victim to justice?

As the curve of acid attacks went up, there was merely any law or regulation for acid attacks. It was dealt within the narrow meaning of Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code. It dealt with voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means. The spectrum of this law was not wide enough so as to accommodate acid attacks within it. It specifically did not indulge in the procedure for planning or attempting an attack. But in 2009, the 18th Law Commission under the leadership of Justice A.R. Lakshmanan proposed in Report №226 The Inclusion of Acid Attacks as Specific Offences in the Indian Penal Code and a Law for Compensation for Victims of Crime. As proposed, two new Sections 326A and 326B were inserted in the IPC. It was also to read with Section 114B of The Indian Evidence Act. Section 114B of the Evidence Act deals with the presumption as to acid attack, i.e., if a person has thrown acid it is to be presumed that he/she has done that with the intention of causing grievous injury to somebody. So the new amendments were as follows:

S.326A — Punishment for acid throwing — minimum punishment is 10 years of imprisonment — can extend up to imprisonment for life with fine.

S.326B — Punishment for attempted acid throwing — minimum punishment is 7 years of imprisonment — can extend up to 7 years imprisonment with fine.

In 2017, the Prevention of Acid Attacks and Rehabilitation of Acid Attack Victims Bill was introduced to provide for steps to prevent acid attacks by regulating the sale, supply and use of acid, as well as other measures. It also proposed steps to rehabilitate victims and related matters. According to this bill no person shall be allowed to sell or deliver or transport acid without a proper record of their identity, the quantity of acid involved and the purpose for which it is to be used. It also provides for an increase in the maximum punishment for acid attacks under section 326B of the IPC to imprisonment for ten years[13].

Even after such enactments there has not been a widespread change. There is a need for effective implementation of existing provisions, along with the orders and guidelines of the SC, for acid is still easily available. Acid availability should be limited to commercial and scientific purposes, and information about the purchasers must be recorded in all cases. But the bigger question still remains; does these placate the plight of the victims? The answer is NO! It never can. No law, no punishment can really provide relief to the excruciating pain. Unending sufferings and trauma faced by the victims. It is astonishing to even realize that how a cheap liquid sold in shops for household purposes can change a priceless life. Men in Indian society still have to learn that consent matters and every household has to ensure that it happens on a personal level.

On a lighter note…..

After the Parivartan Kendra v. Union of India[14], the Apex Court has laid down an extensive Directive to the Government to stringently act upon acid attack cases and sponsor the treatment, procuring of jobs and skill development for the survivors. It also has to initiate social dialogues such that the consent matter narrative plays an active role in the society. People like Lakshmi should be the flagbearers for the acid attack victims in the society as she has exemplified that life does not end after an attack and it is important to bounce back every time…..as goes her saying -

“He changed my face, Not my heart. He threw acid on my face, not on my dreams.”

[1] https://yourstory.com/socialstory/2019/06/acid-attack-survivor-laxmi-agarwal-deepika-padukone.

[2] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/03/indian-acid-attack-victims-share-stories-160309074926141.html.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Supra, note 1.

[6] Supra, note 2.

[7] https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/53197/ssoar-ijtsrd-2017-5-chandrashekar_et_al-Animosity_towards_Acid_Attacks_-.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&lnkname=ssoar-ijtsrd-2017-5-chandrashekar_et_al-Animosity_towards_Acid_Attacks_-.pdf

[8] Ibid.

[9] Supra, note 1.

[10] https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/acid-attack-survivors-in-india-interview/.

[11] Supra, note 7.