Acid Attacks As Gender-Based Violence Against Women In India: Legal Frameworks, Judicial Responses And The Path Toward Justice
Advocate A. Fathima Nizra, B.A.LLB (Hons.) LLM (Human Rights Law), The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, School of Excellence in Law
ABSTRACT
Acid attacks constitute one of the most brutal and premeditated forms of gender-based violence, inflicting permanent physical disfigurement, psychological trauma, and social ostracism By leaving the vast majority of (overwhelmingly) female survivors with visible disfigurement, severe psychological distress, and social stigma, these attacks remain some of the most violent and intentional forms of gendered violence. In India, over 90% of acid attacks were committed against women and girls by men for reasons such as control, punishment for rejecting sexual advance or marriage proposal, and to conform to dictates about women's behaviour. Despite the amendment of the Indian Penal Code in 2013 with the introduction of Section 326A and 326B via the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013, and a historic Supreme Court judgment in the case of Laxmi v. Union of India, gaps in the prevention of, response to, and rehabilitation of victims persist at systemic and structural levels. This paper presents a nuanced and comprehensive socio-legal examination of acid attacks in India, framed within the paradigm of gender-based violence. It scrutinises the socio-cultural underpinnings driving these attacks; traces the trajectory of legal and judicial interventions; analyses persisting lacunae in victims support and law enforcement; and studies the efforts of civil society in victim rehabilitation. With reference to the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in particular, the analysis contextualises India’s response within a broader international human rights framework. Concluding by detailing number of various policy recommendations & suggestions, both legally and factually based on the fact finding with the ultimate aim of ensuring that Acid Attack Survivors in India gain a complete and adequate dose of justice, dignity and mainstream reintegration that they truly deserve.
Keywords: Acid attacks; gender-based violence; women in India; Indian Penal Code; Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2013; Laxmi v Union of India; CEDAW; victim rehabilitation; sexual violence; patriarchy.
