A recent plea by a disfigured victim to give her the ‘right to kill’ herself made national headlines. Nine years ago, Sonali Mukherjee, just 19 years old, was fast asleep when three assailants barged into her home and poured acid over her face, burning her face and leaving her partially deaf. She had to endure this as she had repulsed their sexual advances.
Sonali had appealed for medical support for reconstructive surgery as well as tougher penalties on the three assailants, who were released on bail just after three years imprisonment. Another victim, Syeda Rahath Unnisa from Bangalore suffered an acid attack in June, last year. The offender,her husband too is also out on bail. Other than legal apathy and social stigma, another shocking aspect of acid attacks is the easy availability of concentrated sulphuric acid, nitric acid or hydrochloric acid over the counter.
Concentrated acid can be brought from any hardware store after spending around `70-75 per litre. One of the shop owners on JC Road said, “Most of them who purchase acid claim they need it for cleaning purposes. We can’t question them on their intentions.”
Shashikala Belagali, who worked with Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAW), says, “Acid shouldn’t be available so easily. Nowadays, you can buy it from a shop like a grocery item. There should be a ban or regulation on the sale of acid.”
The organisation relies on media reports to find victims in Karnataka. A 2011 study by the Avon Global Centre for Women and Justice at Cornell Law School, New York, says that 153 cases of acid attacks were reported in India from January 2002 to October 2010 in different news publications.
Lawyer Madhukar says,”There was lot of hue and cry for passing a legislation to take strict action against perpetrators and offenders. In this regard, the Government of Karnataka has passed a Government Order that any person who buys acid from a chemist has to produce his ID and then state the purpose of buying it.”
Apart from strict laws to deal with the perpetrators of such a heinous crime, a solid enforcing agency who can deal sensitively with victims, there is an urgent need to regulate the sale of acid from shops other than chemists.