CID prepares Standard Operating Procedures to probe acid attack cases in state

After being made the nodal agency to check incidents of acid attack, Criminal Investigating Department (CID) is preparing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that are to be followed by investigating officer to ensure that no "important aspects" of the crime is left out.

Rajesh Kumar, ADG (CID), said: "The step to prepare the SOP was taken to streamline the investigation of the acid attack cases and to ensure that no important aspects of the heinous crime are left unattended."

Investigating officers usually follow the SOP, which acts as a guideline to them, to carry out a probe of a particular type of incident. It gives a clear idea to an officer on how to proceed for better investigation to a crime. But it was not available with the investigating officers to probe into the "heinous crime" of acid attack.

According to an official in the state secretariat, Nabanna, CID had been made the nodal agency as the idea is not only to give compensation to victims of acid attack, but also to check the crime which is considered to be a menace in the society.

The top brass of the CID, thus, decided to prepare the SOP first besides organising seminars and awareness campaigns in schools to prevent incidents of acid attacks. Concerned officers have started their work to prepare the SOP.

The investigation is first carried out by policemen from local police station and important cases are taken up by the CID in districts. Thus, SOP would help investigating officers to probe into the incidents of acid attacks properly and no important aspects of the crime will be left out. If an investigation is carried out properly, then case studies on its outcome also helps to check similar incidents in the future.

It may be mentioned that the crime of acid attack is considerably increasing every year in the state and it had prompted the state government to take necessary and effective steps to check the rate of crime.

There were 56 and 47 cases of acid attack in 2014 and 2015 respectively. But the number of cases has gone up to 59 till the end of 2016. In 2016, West Bengal was in fourth place in the country in terms of acid attack.

There were two recent incidents of acid attack in the state. On Sunday night, a miscreant hurled acid on the face of a woman in a moving suburban train at Baruipur in South 24 Parganas. Some other women in the same compartment had also received injuries. Again, on Tuesday, a middle-aged man forced his wife to drink acid after demanding dowry in Murshidabad.

In a bid to check the rate of the crime, the CID is also trying to keep a tab on sale of acid considering that its easy availability also leading to the increase in the rate of such crime. Explaining the reason, an officer said it is the easier way to attack one's rival as they didn't need to carry a gun or dagger. Moreover, no one usually doubts if one carries acid in a container.