New Delhi: To eliminate acid attacks, the national capital must take a cue from Bangladesh where unlicensed production, import, transport, storage, sale and use of acid is a cognizable non-bailable offence, said the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief on Friday.
The Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal recommended emulation of the Bangladesh scheme as a model for legislation to curb acid-related crimes.
Maliwal has also proposed banning of acid sale and strictly control the wholesale procurement of acid for scientific and commercial purposes.
She sent a set of recommendations to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and urged him to constitute consultation committees to regulate acid sale in the national capital.
"Delhi can emulate the case of Bangladesh which is credited with decreasing the incidence of acid attacks by 20 per cent after introduction of stringent laws against acid attacks.
"Acid Control Act of Bangladesh (2002) makes the unlicensed production, import, transport, storage, sale and use of acid as punishable offences with a prison sentence of three to 10 years," Maliwal said in the letter.
She also suggested that the penalties recovered from acid license inspections (Rs 16,78,000 so far) should be channelised towards the rehabilitation of acid attack victims.
The Commission had a few months back had directed all District Magistrates (DMs) in Delhi to furnish information regarding acid sales in their respective jurisdictions, including action taken to regulate acid sales and action taken in adherence to the Supreme Court's orders.
"Based on the data submitted to us by DMs, we found that there are loopholes in the process of implementation of the Supreme Court guidelines in Laxmi vs Union of India," Maliwal said in the letter.
The data submitted by DMs show that 20 of the 33 sub divisions in Delhi did not maintain any information regarding acid retailers within their jurisdiction, she said.
