Acid attack case: Delhi court says ‘brutal, diabolical’ while awarding life term to two men who forced acid down minor’s throat

“The act of the convicts is also reflective of their intent to cause irreversible damage to the body of the victim and to torment him perennially with unbearable pain. This shows the depravity of the convicts. To put it pithily, it shows the intent of the convicts to inflict such an injury to the body of the victim which may make his survival extremely painful and ultimately lead to a painful death,” the ASJ said.

Supreme Court on acid attacks

While hearing a matter dealing with the offence of acid attack, the Supreme Court was informed by the Centre on Thursday that the issues raised in the case “will be duly considered by the competent authority and an appropriate policy will be framed”.

The top court subsequently directed the “the needful be done within a period of six weeks”.

“A compliance report has been filed by the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. We request the High Court to issue necessary instructions for prioritising the conclusion of trial in all five pending cases, subject to any other trial involving the grave nature of offences. We also issue notice to all the States/Union Territories…,” the top court’s order read.

Case

According to the prosecution, the convicts Akash alias Bondi and Talib forced Yogesh to ingest acid in 2017.

The act was so brutal that the deceased who was in the prime years of his health aged around 17 years could survive for 18 months, had the attack been on a normal person of average health, he/she would have succumbed to death very soon, the prosecution said.

The mother of the deceased informed the court that the incident has not only taken away the life of his young, hail and hearty son but has also created havoc on the entire family.

Her husband could not bear the shock of the death of his young son and he also died within six months of his death, she said.

She said at the time of attack her son weigh 120kgs which came down to 30kgs at the time of his death.

Crime committed with ‘utmost atrocity and brutality’

The court said that an acid attack victim and his family suffers a deep trauma on a day to day basis and annihilation of vital parts/organs of the body necessitating a continuous medical intervention further agonizes the victim and his family.

Observing that it also cripples the family financially, the ASJ said that the victim lived 18 months after the incident and could not eat or drink anything from his mouth after the attack.

For such a crime committed with utmost atrocity and brutality, maximum punishment under law is called for.

The court directed compensation of Rs 10 Lakh to the mother of the victim under the ‘Victim Compensation Scheme’.

Forceful ingestion of acid is an even more aggravating/worse crime as it corrodes/debilitates the body internally and therefore has to be dealt with strictly and with a severe punishment.

The court, while considering the quantum of punishment, said that the punishment given should be commensurate with the gravity of the crime and also with other relevant factors – aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

Taking note of the mother and sister of the deceased that they are receiving constant threats from the family of convict Talib, the court directed Delhi police to provide them with necessary police protection.

“They do not have any adult male member left in the family and they are very scared and apprehensive that the family of the accused Talib may cause further harm to them,” said the court.