New Delhi: The NHRC has issued notices to the Delhi government, the city's police chief and the member secretary of the State Legal Services Authorities over an acid attack on a 17-year-old girl here, officials said on Friday.
Two bike-borne, masked men flung acid on the girl on Wednesday, minutes after she left her west Delhi residence for school, leaving her with serious injuries. Police have arrested three men, including a neighbour of the victim, in connection with the incident.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognisance of the incident. The girl was admitted to the Safdarjung Hospital's ICU (intensive care unit), the NHRC said in a statement. The commission has observed that the reported incident raises serious issues of human rights violation of the victim.
"It is really very disturbing that despite several amendments in the criminal laws and various measures taken by authorities to ban the sale of acid or corrosive substances other than for commercial or scientific purposes, it appears nothing much has changed on the ground as the attackers are easily procuring acids - be it through off-line or on-line," the rights panel said.
This clearly demonstrates that there is a "lack of a monitoring system" within the administration for the sale of acid or acids of various natures, it said.
"Therefore, prima facie, it appears that there is culpable negligence on the part of the public servant for failing to regulate the sale of acid(s) within whose territorial jurisdiction the incident took place," the statement said.
Accordingly, it has issued notices to the chief secretary of the Delhi government, commissioner of police, and the member secretary of the State Legal Services Authorities, and sought detailed specific reports within four weeks, it added.
The chief secretary is expected to inform regarding the rehabilitation, counselling, compensation, free-of-cost treatment, including plastic surgery of the victim and other measures which are necessary to be taken as per the direction of the Supreme Court in Laxmi vs. Union of India case, the statement said.
The report must also contain the details of the sale of acid in the instant case, through e-wallet, and the persons responsible for the sale of such banned substance in contravention of the law, it added.
The report should also specifically mention the compensation amount paid or to be paid as per the guidelines of the Victim Compensation Scheme.
The commissioner of police has been asked to submit the details of the FIR in the matter. It should mention the penal offenses invoked, the progress of the investigation, the larger conspiracy and the details of the accused arrested, it said.
The report must also mention the preventive actions initiated by the Delhi Police to inhibit such reoccurrence of acid attacks, the rights panel said.