THE Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed concern over incidents of acid attacks in the country and said merely issuing a circular banning sale in compassionate and passionate language will not serve the purpose. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana said the Central Government must ensure that all States implement its guidelines banning the sale of acid. “Despite your guidelines (banning retail sale of acid), unfortunate incidents are taking place. That means there is some fault and your guidelines have not been able to achieve the object.

 

That itself is a good ground for you to revisit the entire issue. You can’t just be happy and satisfied that you have issued the guidelines and the burden is passed on to the states,” the bench observed orally. The top court noted there are many loopholes that people are misusing, and the Centre and states will have to coordinate and resolve the issue. “Show us a single circular you have issued to a state seeking an explanation of how, despite your guidelines, incidents have taken place in the state? Where is the accountability of officers of enforcement agencies there? Issuing a very compassionate language in a circular, directing all these things, is not going to serve the purpose...We understand there is federal structure...But then to remind them, part of responsibility you will have to share...If incidents are rising, that means the policy has miserably failed,” the bench added.

 

Additional Solicitor General Archana Pathak Dave, appearing for the Centre, submitted that detailed guidelines regarding the ban on retail sale of acid were circulated to states, which have framed rules, but implementation remains very weak. The top court directed the Centre to file an affidavit enumerating measures required to be implemented to prevent misuse of acid, which is freely available in the market. Flagging the “alarming increase” in the cases of “barbaric” acid attacks, the top court had earlier suggested that the Centre consider enhancing the punishment for such offences besides shifting the onus on the accused to prove that he is not guilty. The top court passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by acid attack survivor Shaheen Malik, who has sought that such victims be categorised as persons with disabilities to ensure access to welfare schemes.