 bill no  60 of  2014 the acid (control) bill, 2014 by dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp a billto provide for control of sale and distribution of acids in order to prevent the acid attacks on human beings particularly women and girls and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted  by parliament in the sixty-fifth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the acid (control) act, 2014short title and extent(2) it extends to the union territories onlydefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "acid" means any acidic solution, the sale and distribution of which is declaredby the central government to be governed by or under the provisions of this act;(b) "dealer" means a person carrying on either personally or through any otherperson the business of selling any acid, whether wholesale or retail;(c) "controller" means the controller of acids appointed by the central government under section 4; and(d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act3 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, publish a list of acids to which the provisions of this act shall apply5central government to publish list of acids(2) the central government may, at any point in time, amend the list published under sub-section (1)appointment of controller of acids104 (1) the central government shall, by notification in the official gazette, appoint acontroller of acids to control and regulate the sale and distribution of acids in such manner as may be prescribed(2) without prejudice to the generality of the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the controller shall be empowered to,—(a) ban the retail sale of acid to specified persons; (b) prescribe compulsory licences for dealers authorised to sell acid in retail;15(c) ensure that the dealers, who sell acids, shall record the sale transactions in such manner as may be prescribed (3) the controller shall be assisted by such number of officers, inspectors and employees as may be prescribed(4) the salary, allowances payable to and the terms and conditions of service of the officers and employees shall be such as may be prescribed205  subject to provisions of section 6, no person other than the authorised dealers shall sell or possess any acidauthorised dealers to sell acid6 the controller may, by notification, exempt any bonafide industrial or academic user from the provisions of this actexemptions on use of acidspenalties257 (1) whoever contravenes any of the provisions of this act or fails to comply withany direction made under authority conferred by this act shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, which may extend to fifty thousand rupees or with both30(2) the court may, at any stage of trial, order that the whole or any part of the stock of acids in respect of which the offence was committed be forfeited to the government and the establishment from which the stock was released be sealedoffences by corporations358 where a person committing an offence punishable under this act is a company or an association or a body of persons, whether incorporated or not, every director, manager, secretary, agent or other officer or person concerned with the management thereof, shall, unless he proves that the offence was committed without his knowledge or that he has exercised all due diligence to prevent its commission, be deemed to be guilty of such offence9 in all trials for offences under this act, the magistrate shall follow the procedure prescribed in the code of criminal procedure, 1973 for the trial of summary cases1 of 1974offences to be tried summarily40presumption of possession10 in trials of offences under this act, it shall be presumed, unless and until thecontrary is proved, that the accused has committed an offence under this act in respect of any acid preparations for the possession of which he fails to account satisfactorilypower of search and seizure1 of 1974  511 any person competent to investigate an offence under this act may search any place in which he has reason to believe that an offence under this act has been, or is being or is likely to be committed, and take possession of any stock of acid in respect of which the offence has been or is being committed and the provisions of the code of criminal procedure, 1973, shall, so far as may be applicable, apply to any search or seizure under this act as they apply to any search or seizure made under the authority of a warrant issued under that code| 12                                                                                   |  (   | 1                                                                                 ||---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| who—                                                                                  |      |                                                                                   || vexatious                                                                             |      |                                                                                   || search and                                                                            |      |                                                                                   || seizure                                                                              |      |                                                                                   || 10                                                                                    |      |                                                                                   || (                                                                                     | a    | ) without reasonable ground for believing that it is necessary so to do, searches || or causes to be searched any house, building or enclosed place or any vehicle, vessel |      |                                                                                   || or aircraft;                                                                          |      |                                                                                   || (                                                                                     | b    | ) vexatiously or unnecessarily seizes any acidic preparation;                     || (                                                                                     | c    | ) vexatiously or unnecessarily detains, searches or arrests any person; or        |15| (                                                                                       ||-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|| without having any reason to believe that such act is required for the execution of his || duty;                                                                                   |shall for every such offence be punished with fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees20(2) any person who wilfully and maliciously gives false information so as to cause an arrest or a search to be made under this act shall be punished with a fine which may extend to twenty thousand rupees, or with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with bothsaving of other laws13 the provisions of this act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other law for the time being in force regulating any of the matters dealt with in this act25power to make rules14 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, makes rulesfor carrying out the purposes of this act30(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  reasonsduring the past few years there is a sudden spurt in the incidents relating to acid attacks particularly on women in the country every year many women are killed, maimed, blinded or scarred for life by the acid attacks the main and simple reason for increase in such incidents is the absence of any law in the country to regulate the sale of acids as of now, anybody can walk down to the nearby store and purchase any amount of acid over the counter for less than twenty rupees in many countries, including bangladesh, there is an acid control act which regulates the sale of acids and also the way it is produced, stored and transported unfortunately, in our country, the acid is carelessly allowed to become a deadly weapon once this weapon is used on any woman, the victim goes through a trauma throughout her life as even after many cosmetic surgeries and corrections the scar does not leavebesides, there is permanent scar on the mind of a woman reminding her of the gruesome incident throughout her life there is a constant demand that a separate law should be in place to punish offenders of acid attacks but at the same time there is also a proposal that the focus of the remedial action should be on controlling the sale of acids, rather than punishing the perpetrators it is, therefore, high time that a law on controlling the sale of acids should be framed and the violators should be severely punished however, the bona fide users for industrial, research and academic purposes should be exempted from the purview of such law which shall be applicable to union territories only in view of the jurisdiction of the respective governments on the subjectthe bill seeks to achieve the above objectives hence this billnew delhi;kirit premjibhai solankijune 27, 2014 financial memorandumclause 4 of the bill provides for appointment of  controller of acids, officers, inspectors and other employees by the central government to control and regulate the sale and distribution of acids it is estimated that an amount of rupees one hundred crore per annum would be involved from the consolidated fund of india as recurring expenditureit is also estimated that a non-recurring expenditure of rupees fifty crore will 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 rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character———— a billto provide for control of sale and distribution of acids in order to prevent the acid attacks on human beings particularly women and girls and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr kirit premjibhai solanki, mp)gmgipmrnd—1312ls(s4)—23072014