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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
MADAN B. LOKUR, UDAY UMESH LALIT, JJ.
LAXMI – PETITIONER
VERSUS
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. – RESPONDENTS
WRIT PETITION (C)NO.129 OF 2006
Decided On : 10-04-2015
Administration of Justice – Plight of acid attack victims – Compensation – Supreme Court suggesting minimum compensation of Rs.3,00,000/-(Rupees three lakhs only) – Many States not implementing – Member Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority directed to take up the issue with the State Government. (Para 10, 11, 12)
(2014) 4 SCC 427 – Relied upon
Administration of Justice – Plight of acid attack victims – Free treatment – Unanimous decision to provide free medical treatment to acid attack victims – Not only in Government hospitals but also private hospitals – Decisions directed to be implemented – Treatment to include not only physical treatment but also medicines, bed and food. (Para 13 to 19)
Administration of Justice – Plight of acid attack victims – Ban on sale of acid – Directions given. (Para 20)
Administration of Justice – Plight of acid attack victims – Committee for handling and supervising acid attack cases – No need for a separate committee – District Legal Services Authority given the responsibility. (Para 22)
Facts of the case:
This writ petition was filed for addressing plight of acid attack victims. The prayers included enactment of penal law for punishing acid attack accused, compensation to acid attack victims, free medical treatment to them and constituting a separate committee for handling an supervising such cases.
Finding of the Court:
Issue considered and directions given.
Result: Writ petition disposed of.
ORDER
Pursuant to our order dated 06.02.2015, the Ministry of Home Affairs has filed an affidavit dated 8th April, 2015.
2. We have heard learned counsel for the parties in considerable detail.
3. A meeting was convened by the Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India and the Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India with all the Chief Secretaries/their counterparts in the States/Union Territories on 14.03.2015.
4. From the affidavit, the provisional figures for 2014 indicate that there were 282 acid attacks in all the States. The majority of acid attacks were in the States of Uttar Pradesh (185), Madhya Pradesh (53) and Gujarat (11).
5. As far as the Union Territories are concerned, Delhi is the only Union Territory where acid attacks have taken place and the total number of such attacks in the year 2014 provisionally is 27.
6. In all, therefore, 309 acid attacks are said to have taken place provisionally in the year 2014.
7. As mentioned in our order dated 06.02.2015, with the amendment to the Indian Penal Code, nothing survives in the first prayer made by the petitioner.
8. The second and third prayers relate to the cost of treatment of the acid attack victims and application of Section 357C of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which was inserted by an Amendment Act in 2013 with effect from 03.02.2013.
9. In the meeting convened by the Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 14.03.2015, it has been noted that a Victim Compensation Scheme has already been notified in almost all the States and Union Territories. However, we are told today that the Victim Compensation Scheme has been notified in all States and Union Territories.
10. We have gone through the chart annexed along with the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and we find that despite the directions given by this Court in Laxmi Vs. Union of India [(2014) 4 SCC 427], the minimum compensation of Rs.3,00,000/-(Rupees three lakhs only) per acid attack victim has not been fixed in some of the States/Union Territories. In our opinion, it will be appropriate if the Member Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority takes up the issue with the State Government so that the orders passed by this Court are complied with and a minimum of Rs.3,00,000/-(Rupees three lakhs only) is made available to each victim of acid attack.
11. From the figures given above, we find that the amount will not be burdensome so far as the State Governments/Union Territories are concerned and, therefore, we do not see any reason why the directions given by this Court should not be accepted by the State Governments/Union Territories since they do not involve any serious financial implication.
12. We also direct the Member Secretary of the State Legal Services Authority to obtain a copy of the Victim Compensation Scheme from the concerned State/Union Territory and to give it wide and adequate publicity in the State/Union Territory so that each acid attack victim in the States/Union Territories can take the benefit of the Victim Compensation Scheme.
13. Insofar as the proper treatment, aftercare and rehabilitation of the victims of acid attack is concerned, the meeting convened on 14.03.2015 notes unanimously that full medical assistance should be provided to the victims of acid attack and that private hospitals should also provide free medical treatment to such victims. It is noted that there may perhaps be some reluctance on the part of some private hospitals to provide free medical treatment and, therefore, the concerned officers in the State Governments should take up the matter with the private hospitals so that they are also required to provide free medical treatment to the victims of acid attack.
14. The decisions taken in the meeting read as follows:
• The States/UTs will take a serious note of the directions of the Supreme Court with regard to treatment and payment of
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