Tackling Acid Violence and Ensuring Justice to Survivors
What is Acid Attack?
Acid attack is a type of heinous violence or crime where acid is thrown with an intention to maim, disfigure, blind or to kill the victim. If a woman spurns sexual advances or rejects a proposal of marriage, this attack acts like revenge by the Perpetrators. So, it became a bitter aspect of many women’s life all over the globe.
These attacks can be attributed to various contributing factors such as social weakness of women in this male dominating society, lack of support, neglection by the lawmakers in this particular field. These occur at higher rates in the locations where factories use acid in their manufacturing process. Together with government, businesses and other industrial users of acid can play an important role in curbing the criminal use of acids.
Acid Attack in the Back Drop of India
According to a survey by activists and researchers says that India is the fourth most dangerous place in the world to live in as women belonging to any class, caste or creed and religion can be victims of this cruel form of violence and disfigurement, a premeditated crime intended to kill or maim her permanently and act as a lesson to "put her in her place". The man in these category feel so insulted that a woman could turn them down and have an attitude of “If I can‟t have you, no one can.”It reflects a deeply entrenched misogyny against women by husbands, disgruntled lovers and other male relatives. India still categorizes it as a grievous hurt, dolling out penalties which are lenient and jail terms which are bailable.
According to a survey by activists and researchers says that India is the fourth most dangerous place in the world to live in as women belonging to any class, caste or creed and religion can be victims of this cruel form of violence and disfigurement, a premeditated crime intended to kill or maim her permanently and act as a lesson to "put her in her place". The man in these category feel so insulted that a woman could turn them down and have an attitude of “If I can‟t have you, no one can.”It reflects a deeply entrenched misogyny against women by husbands, disgruntled lovers and other male relatives. India still categorizes it as a grievous hurt, dolling out penalties which are lenient and jail terms which are bailable.
Reasons of Acid Attacks:
Such kind of barbaric attacks nurtures his male ego and makes him feel that he is the proud creator of God and has created the patriarchal society. Females between 11 and 30 years are the most vulnerable to such attacks, in 36% of the incidents the victims are targeted for rejection of marriage proposals.
- “Love Rejection” which the proposer of marriage, love or sex is rejected by the victim.
- Dowry problems or marital problems.
- Sexual harassment or assault in response to woman or girl refusing such advances or demanding leads to this crime
Such kind of barbaric attacks nurtures his male ego and makes him feel that he is the proud creator of God and has created the patriarchal society. Females between 11 and 30 years are the most vulnerable to such attacks, in 36% of the incidents the victims are targeted for rejection of marriage proposals.
Acid attacks survivors are physically, psychologically and socially traumatized. The physical extents of their injuries are deep, permanent and have a direct impact on their psychological well-being and social functionality.
Consequences:
- Physical: Burns skin, melts flesh and bone layer by layer
- Psychological: Depression, insomnia, nightmares, fear of facing the world, tiredness, headache, trauma grips, fully unconfident derailed life
- Economic: Troubles in marriage, employment, feeling of loneliness, emotionally weak, have to face high discrimination
Conclusion and Suggestions:
- Our Indian criminal system should be stricter in case of handling these type of heinous crimes.
- Free treatment to the victims
- Launching an insurance scheme that would cover reconstruction surgery
- Proposal towards control sale of acids above 20% concentration
- Surveillance and security of employees working in an organization
- Money collected from the imposed fines could be reinvested in campaigns, in the training of required health specialists, and for the improvement of healthcare facilities.
- Promote reporting of acid attacks by the victims and the community
- Improve our thinking power about Gender Inequality
- Helping the victims to in facing the world by developing positivity in their minds
- Giving equal opportunities in employment without any discrimination, accepting the proposals of marriage
It is our sincere hope that the dismal condition of the legal apparatus with regard to acid attacks can be improved; so that the victim’s problems can be assuaged and the Indian society becomes a safer place for women.
"It is time to seriously ponder over this matter."
