Show no leniency to acid attackers, says SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has taken exception to a Bombay High Court ruling that showed leniency to an acid attack accused by reducing his jail sentence. Persons attacking others with acid should not be shown any leniency as otherwise people cannot live in peace, the SC remarked.

A bench of justices Markandey Katju and Aftab Alam scrapped the Bombay HC judgment that reduced Mallappa Sangramappa Mallipatil’s sentence to a mere 35 days from the three-year imprisonment ordered by the trial court.

“We are surprised that the high court has, in such a heinous crime, chosen to reduce the punishment to the sentence already undergone, which, we are informed, was only 35 days,” the SC bench said. The judges directed the police to take the accused into custody to ensure that he served the remaining period of the jail term he was sentenced to by the trial court.

On January 25, 2002, Mallipatil splashed acid on Vishwambhar Narayan Jadhav in a public transport bus owing to previous enmity. The trial court sentenced him to three years imprisonment. He appealed in the sessions court that dismissed his plea but confirmed the sentence. However, the Bombay High Court reduced the sentence to the period he had already served in jail - 35 days -but enhanced the fine from Rs3,000 to Rs20,000. Jadhav filed a special leave petition questioning the “leniency” shown to Mallipatil.

The SC noted that Jadhav suffered serious burn injuries on his head, face and chest, despite. Mallipatil appears to be a person who has criminal inclinations, and for such persons, no leniency is called for, the bench said. “Otherwise people will not be able to go about life in peace.”

Earlier this year, the Union government had told the apex court that a proposal to ban free sale of acid didn’t find favour with state governments. The government’s response had come on a court’s notice asking it to consider the feasibility of a law regulating sale of acid. The government said such a measure would lead to ‘Inspector Raj’.

“As regards banning the free sale of acid, the state governments are almost unanimously against the proposed ban for the reason that the same is not practicable since acid is needed for many purposes in and around the household,” additional solicitor-general Mohan Parasaran told the court. The court had issued the notice on a petition filed by an acid attack victim, Lakshmi.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, had suggested that the punishment for throwing acid on someone should be life imprisonment, as this “offence is worse than a murder”.