The Supreme Court on Tuesday called for “extraordinary punitive measures”, including attachment of properties, for acid attacks and asked the Centre to explore a stringent legislation along the lines of the anti-dowry law.

“Why should not the accused person’s property be attached? If the accused person can’t pay compensation, then why not have his property attached? Extraordinary punitive measures are required beyond the letter of the law…. Otherwise things will not work. Reformative theory has no place in such cases,” a bench headed by Chief
Justice of India Surya Kant orally observed.

The bench, which also had Justice Joymalya Bagchi, was dealing with a plea by acid attack victim Shaheen Malik seeking statutory protection and adequate rehabilitation measures for all acid-attack survivors.

Shaheen said she had been fighting her own case for nearly two decades and the accused persons who made her drink acid had all been acquitted by a trial court in Delhi.

CJI Kant told additional solicitor-general Archana Pathak Dave that the Centre must explore the idea of coming out with a stringent legislation like the dowry-prohibition law to tackle the scourge of acid attacks.

At the last hearing on December 4, the bench had sought details from all states/ high courts on the number of acid attacks, the chargesheets filed and the status of trial.

On Tuesday, the court was informed that 60 cases of acid attacks were pending in Bengal, 198 in Uttar Pradesh, 114 in Gujarat, 55 in Maharashtra and 68 in Bihar.

During the last hearing, the bench had expressed shock and anguish over the 16-year delay in concluding Shaheen’s trial, saying it is a “mockery of the legal system”.