NEW DELHI: A young girl,
disfigured by acid thrown on her by a jilted lover, has finally stirred the
Centre, which on Monday told SC that it was actively considering enacting a
separate provision in the Indian Penal Code to classify it as a serious offence.
Additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran told a bench comprising Chief
Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam that "there is a change in
thinking in the government parlance and it is in favour of making it a serious
offence by amending the provision of IPC dealing with such crimes." The court
granted him eight weeks time to come back with a concrete proposal in this
regard.
The Centre's response came on a PIL filed by Laxmi, a teenaged Delhiite who now
fears to venture out as her face was disfigured by an acid attack. Through
lawyer Aparna Bhat, she had sought a direction from the court for enacting a law
that provided exemplary punishment to those throwing acid on girls as also a
sound rehabilitation scheme for the victims.
TOI has learnt that the suggestion for amending the provision in IPC, being
examined by the home ministry headed by P Chidambaram, is to add a new section —
Section 326A. By proposing to equate acid attack with the provisions of Section
326, the government intends to bring it on a par with a crime that involves
causing grievous injuries using deadly weapons, an offence which carries a
maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
In what could help government in clinching the debate in favour of a stringent
provision to deter jilted lovers from using corrosive substances against girls,
the bench said: "Acid attack is a serious offence. There is no doubt about it."