New Delhi: Acid is as easy to get as vegetables despite a ban on its retail sale, Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal said on Wednesday after a 17-year-old girl was attacked with acid here while she was going to school.
Activists raised questions over the rampant sale of acid in markets and claimed that the ban exists only on paper.
The Supreme Court had in 2013 banned over-the-counter sale of acid at retail outlets following an increase in the number of acid attacks and ordered a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to be paid by state governments to each acid attack victim. Maliwal claimed that the
Supreme Court's direction that penalties collected from those illegally selling acid have to be used for rehabilitation of acid attack survivors was not being followed.
"In October this year, when we issued notices to district magistrates in Delhi, we found that over Rs 36 lakh was collected in fines but the amount was not being utilised for victims. The government told us that they will formulate a rehabilitation policy for acid attack survivors but it is late and we want it to be expedited."
In a video uploaded on Twitter, Maliwal said the DCW may approach court for stricter enforcement of the ban on over-the-counter sale of acid. "It is unfortunate that despite repetitive recommendations of the commission, the retail sale of acid is not banned. Acid is being sold openly in markets, unchecked. In fact, it is as easy to obtain acid as it is to purchase vegetables!
"The government must ban retail sale of acid. Further, the Delhi Police must arrest the accused and investigate the case properly so that the strictest punishment can be given to them," she said, adding that when a girl is attacked with acid, "her soul is scarred and her life is ruined". Maliwal said the DCW has issued several notices and summons but acid sale continues unchecked.
"Words can't do any justice. We have to instil fear of immeasurable pain in these animals. The boy who threw acid at the school girl needs to be publicly executed by authorities," Gambhir, the MP from East Delhi, tweeted.