Rajnath approves acid sale check steps, ensure speedy trial

A day after a woman was attacked with acid in the national capital, Union home minister Rajnath Singh approved measures to more stringently regulate sale of acid and time-bound probe and trial in such cases.

A day after a woman was attacked with acid in the national capital, Union home minister Rajnath Singh approved measures to more stringently regulate sale of acid and time-bound probe and trial in such cases.

The home ministry announced on Wednesday that Singh had approved all such cases where maximum punishment of life imprisonment or death sentence is possible.

These will be categorised as heinous crimes and the law will be amended for a speedy probe, trial and disposal of appeal as well.

“In order to regulate the sale of acid, a web application having functionalities like registration of stockists and retailers, issue of licences by the district administration, targeting sale of acid to individuals only after recording personal details like proof of identity and proof of address of the purchaser will be developed,” said the home ministry in statement.

Singh has also asked for developing a new mechanism in consultation with the ministry of health and family welfare, ministry of finance and insurance companies for treatment of acid attack victims on cashless basis.

The amount for the treatment will be paid from the Central Victim Compensation Fund which is proposed to be set up by the home ministry.

The ministry further added steps will be taken to include acid attack victims in the category of Physically Challenged Person with disability in order to make them avail benefits of reservation, training, self-employment loan.

Despite framing rules for regulating sale of acid in some states, it is freely available in many states.

The ministry accepted in its statement that despite taking steps to deal with the problem, more needs to be done as victims of acid attack suffer a lot. In a reply to a parliamentary question, the government said between 2011 and 2013, around 230 cases of acid attacks on around 300 women were registered all over the country.