Editorial
Acid violence
Looking beyond the deterrent punishment
The first verdict under the Acid Crime Control Act, 2002, sentencing one person to death for attack on two young men, points to the state's seriousness about the rise in acid violence which is welcome and reassuring. If sustained, such administrative and judicial activism will certainly result in decline of acid violence.
The incident also points to a change of trend of pattern in acid crime, which an Acid Survivors Foundation survey substantiates: women are no longer exclusive victims of the heinous act. The survey puts the percentage of male victims of acid crime at 35, up from 17 in 1999. The crime is no longer in the domain to dejected lovers but has spread over to land dispute, personal enmity and village politics.
Nevertheless, beyond the statistical nitty-gritty and trend-changes, the fact remains that acid crime is very much there and on an exponential rise. According to the survey, 483 people fell victim to acid violence last year. As this paper has pointed out many times before, the culture of impunity, given birth to by years of enforcement failure, encourages upswing of crime of every kind, from petty theft to horrific homicide. The male targeting in acid crime is only a manifestation of the phenomenon. Materially, however, there will have to be an effective monitoring of the sale and use of acid.
We hope the tribunal's verdict is the first of such exemplary punishment to perpetrators still awaiting trial. The judiciary has recently expeditiously disposed of a number of sensational murder, rape and harassment cases. The sentence on the acid criminal certainly adds a feather to the country's criminal justice system. The judiciary has proved that if the law enforcement and prosecution wings of the state do their job, the former can dispose of cases in the shortest possible time. This should be a milestone in dealing with cases that have hung fire for years.
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