 bill no 182 of  2018 the prevention of acid attacks and rehabilitation of acid attack victims bill, 2018 by dr kakoli ghosh dastidar, mp a billto provide for prevention of acid attacks by surveillance over sale, supply and use of acidor other such corrosive agents and rehabilitation of victims of acid attack and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:— chapter i preliminaryshort title, extent and commencement(2) it extends to the whole of indiain the official gazette, appointdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "acid" means any substance which has acidic or corrosive character or burning nature, that is capable of causing bodily injury leading to scars or disfigurement or temporary or permanent disability;5(b) "acid attack victim" means a woman on whom acid has been poured or sprinkled with the intention of causing bodily injury or disfigurement and who, as a consequence of such act, has suffered any bodily injury or disfigurement effected by chemical action of the acid(c) "appropriate government" means,—(i) in relation to a union territory, the central government; and10(ii) in relation to a state, the government of that state; and(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act chapter ii regulation of trade, sale, supply and use of acid153 (1) every person engaged in the business or trade of acid shall maintain records of sale, purchase and supply of acid and its quantity, concentration and chemical compositionregulation of sale, purchase, trade, orsupply of acid(2) no person shall sell or otherwise deliver to a person an acid of higher concentration than the prescribed degree for the intended use by such person20(3) no person shall sell or otherwise deliver acid to a person without keeping a record of his identity, the quantity of acid and the purpose for which the acid is to be used(4) every person who sells or delivers acid to a person shall install cctv for recording and monitoring of sale process of acid4 the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, specify the kinds and degrees of concentration of acid to be used for different purposesclassification of acid concentration for different purposes25 chapter iii constitution of boardconstitution of board5 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, constitute a board to promote and undertake such rehabilitation and welfare measures, as it may think fit, for the victims of acid attack throughout the country30(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions of sub-section (1), the rehabilitation and welfare measures may provide for—(a) assessing the incidents of acid attacks in the country; (b) payment of such compensation to victims of acid attack as may be prescribed;35(c) rehabilitation measures including employment in government or its organizations or providing facilities of self employment, through vocational training; and(d) such other facilities as may be prescribed(3) the board shall consist of—(a) a retired judge of the high court as chairperson; and40(b) five other members having such experience as may be prescribed, to be appointed by the central government in such manner as may be prescribed: provided that at least two members of the board shall be women(4) the salary and allowances payable to and other terms and conditions of service of chairperson and other members of the board shall be such as may be prescribed chapter iv rehabilitation of acid attack victims5| acid           | attack   ||----------------|----------|| victims to be  |          || treated        | as       || persons with   |          || disability in  |          || certain cases |          |106 where an acid attack has caused substantial bodily harm to or resulted indisfigurement of the victim, such victim shall be deemed to be person with disability for the purposes of availing benefits under various schemes, including employment under the central government, any state government, any local body, autonomous bodies under any government or any public sector undertakings depending on percentage of burn or bodily harm or disfigurement of the victim:provided that if the victim is incapable of employment,  reimbursement of expenditure incurred on her medical treatment and compensation for rehabilitation shall be determined by degree of burn or disability as prescribed by the board chapter v15 offences and penaltiesoffences and penalties7 any person who contravenes the provisions of section 3 shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend upto six months or with fine which may extend upto five lakh rupees or with both chapter vi20 amendment of the indian penal code45 of 1860amendment of section326a8  in section 326a of the indian penal code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as the code),for the words "and with fine", the words "and with fine, which shall not be less than rupees ten lakh" shall be substituted25amendment of section326b9 in section 326b of the code, for the words "seven years, and shall also be liable tofine", the words "ten years, and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than rupees three lakhs" shall be substituted chapter vii amendment of the code of criminal procedure2 of 19743010 in section 357c of the code of criminal procedure, 1973 the following explanationshall be inserted at the end namely:—amendment of section357a"explanation— for the purposes of this section, any reconstructive procedures andsurgeries required shall be treated as medical treatment"amendment of  the first schedule3511 in the first schedule to the code of criminal procedure, 1973, under the heading"i- offences under the indian penal code", in the entry relating to section 326b, in column 3, for the words and number "which may extend to 7 years and with fine", the words and number "which may extend to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine which shall not be less than rupees three lakh" shall be substituted chapter viii miscellaneous40power to remove difficulties12 if any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this act, the centralgovernment may, by order published in the official gazette, make such provisions, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act, as appear to it to be necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:45provided that no such order shall be made under this section after the expiry of three years from the commencement of this actact to have overriding effect13 the provisions of this act shall have effect notwithstanding anything inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this act14 (1) the central government may, by notification in the gazette of india, make rules for carrying out the purpose of this actpower to make rules510(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsit is perturbing that there are certain forms of violence against women which emanate from the medieval mindset of subjugation of women and still continues one manifestation of this mindset is incidents of acid attacks on womenthough acid attack is a crime which can be committed against any man or women, it has a specific gender dimension in india most of the reported acid attacks have been committed on women, particularly young women for spurning suitors, for rejecting proposals of marriage recently, there was a report in media of acid attack by husband on his wifeuntil 2013, there was no clear mechanism to ascertain the number of cases involving acid attacks since the indian penal code, 1860 did not recognise it as a separate offence the offence of acid attack was being dealt with under various sections of the indian penal code (ipc) and only estimates of figures of such attacks were available the criminal law (amendment) act, 2013 inserted new sections 326a and 326b in the indian penal code and made specific offences of hurt by use of acidthough cases of acid attacks on women have been witnessed for decades, the need to address the legislative framework underlying the offence of acid attack was emphasised by the supreme court in laxmi versus union of india in this case, the court issued directions inter alia regarding compensation to acid attack victims, effective regulation of sale of acid, and free treatment of victims some of these guidelines have been incorporated in law still, there is little clarity on issues such as penal provisions against dealers making unregulated sales of acid, adequacy of the amount of compensation of victims, their status as persons with disabilities, etcthe bill, with a view to facilitate rehabilitation of victims of acid attack inter aliaprovides for—(i)classification of acid on the basis of its intensity and concentration and toprevent sale of acid of higher concentration for day-to-day purposes;(ii)prohibition of sale of acid without verifying identity of the buyer and thepurpose of its use;(iii) maintenance of proper records of stock, sales, supply, etc of acid by dealers; (iv) making unregulated sale of acid an offence punishable with six monthsimprisonment and fine;(v)treatment of acid attack victims as persons with disabilities for the purposesof extending benefits under various schemes of the governments, including employment under the central government, state governments or bodies thereunder;(vi) increasing the maximum quantum of punishment for acid attack under section326b of the indian penal code, 1860 to imprisonment for ten years;(vii) stipulating the minimum amount of compensation for acid attack victims asten lakh in cases of grievous hurt and three lakh in other cases or such higher amount as may be specified;(viii) constitution of a board to take rehabilitation and welfare measures for thevictims of acid attack; and(ix) inclusion of reconstructive cosmetic surgeries and psychological counselingto victims as part of medical treatment in case of acid attackthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectives hence this bill financial memorandumclause 5 of the bill provides for constitution of a board to take appropriate and various other rehabilitation and welfare measures for the victims of acid attack including payment of compensation to the victims clause 6 provides for employment or facilities for self-employment to the victims of acid attack the bill, therefore, if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india at this stage, it is not possible to give an estimate of recurring or non-recurring expenditure involved since it would depend upon the number of eligible acid attack victims however, it is estimated that a recurring expenditure of  one hundred crore is likely to be involved per annum from the consolidated fund of indiaa non-recurring expenditure of about rupees fifty crore is also likely to be involved memorandum regarding delegated legislationclause 14 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the matters in respect of which rules may be made are matters of procedure and details only and it is not practicable to provide for them in the bill itself the delegation of legislative power is, therefore, of a normal character annexure extract from the indian penal code, 1860 (45 of 1860)        voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid, etc326awhoever causes permanent or partial damage or deformity to, or burns or maims or disfigures or disables, any part or parts of the body of a person or causes grievous hurt by throwing acid on or by administering acid to that person, or by using any other means with the intention of causing or with the knowledge that he is likely to cause such injury or hurt, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and with fine:provided that such fine shall be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses of the treatment of the victim:provided further that any fine imposed under this section shall be paid to the victim        voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid326bwhoever throws or attempts to throw acid on any person or attempts to administer acid to any person, or attempts to use any other means, with the intention of causing permanent or partial damage or deformity or burns or maiming or disfigurement or disability or grievous hurt to that person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liable to fine         extracts from the code of criminal procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974)        treatment  of victims357c all hospitals, public or private, whether run by the central government, the state government, local bodies or any other person, shall immediately, provide the firstaid or medical treatment, free of cost, to the victims of any offence covered under section 326a, 376, 376a, 376b, 376c, 376d or section 376e of the indian penal code, and shall immediately inform the police of such incident         the first schedule classification of offences         i offences under the indian penal code| section                  | offence      | punishment              | cognizable or   | bailable or      | by what court   ||--------------------------|--------------|-------------------------|-----------------|------------------|-----------------|| non-                     | non-bailable | triable                 |                 |                  |                 || cognizable               |              |                         |                 |                  |                 || 1                        | 2            | 3                       | 4               | 5                | 6               || 326b                     | voluntarily  | imprisonment cognizable | non-bailable    | court of session |                 || throwing or              | for 5 years  | but bailabale           |                 |                  |                 || attempting               | which may    | session                |                 |                  |                 || to throw acid extend to |              |                         |                 |                  |                 || 7 years and              |              |                         |                 |                  |                 || with fine               |              |                         |                 |                  |                 ||                         |             |                        |                |                 |                |———— a billto provide for prevention of acid attacks by surveillance over sale, supply and use of acid or other such corrosive agents and rehabilitation of victims of acid attack and matter connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr kakoli ghosh dastidar, mp)