Chief Secy of 4 states appear before SC on rehabilitation of acid victims

A bench comprising MY Eqbal and C Nagappan took note of the statements of the top officers from Kerala, Karnataka, Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh, and discharged them from appearing personally before it.

It fixed the final hearing on a PIL, filed by Bihar-based NGO Parivartan Kendra seeking court's direction on the rehabilitation of the victims, in the third week of November. The court, on September 9, had issued show cause notices against governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Mizoram and Madhya Pradesh asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for not filing replies to a slew of directions it had issued to take care of acid attack victims.

It had asked the Chief Secretaries of the four states to appear and file their responses to the contempt notices within two weeks and posted the matter for Wednesday. Earlier, the court had given two weeks more "as a last chance" to certain states for filing counter affidavits. "In the event, this order <g data-gr-id="35">is not complied with</g>, then Chief Secretary of the respective defaulting States and the Union Territories shall appear in person before this Court on September 9, the next date of hearing," it had said.

Prior to this, the court had come to the aid of acid attack survivors by issuing several major directions including ordering all private hospitals across the country to provide free treatment, including medicines and expensive reconstruction surgeries, to such victims. It had asked all state governments and Union Territories to "take up the matter with the private hospitals" to ensure that acid attack victims are attended to immediately and adequately.

The hospitals, where such victims are rushed after the incident, would have to provide a certificate stating that the person was an acid <g data-gr-id="31">attack</g> victim.