New Delhi: In a significant move to ensure the rehabilitation of acid attack survivors, the Supreme Court of India (SC) has asked all states and Union Territories (UTs) to show cause as to why a formal scheme for providing government jobs to victims should not be established.
In a significant move to ensure the rehabilitation of acid attack survivors, the Supreme Court on Monday asked all states and Union territories to frame a policy to provide government jobs to all victims. In case jobs can’t be provided, the states and union territories were urged to formulate a policy whereby the survivors are paid a subsistence allowance, reported India Today.
“All states/Union territories will show cause why a scheme for the rehabilitation of victims of acid attacks through jobs in government departments/agencies has not been formulated. If there are logistical issues in providing government employment to victims of acid attacks, the state governments could formulate a policy to pay a subsistence allowance to acid attack victims,” a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi while hearing the case of acid attack survivor Shaheen Malik.
In her petition, Shaheen — who was represented by senior advocate Sidharth Luthra pro bono (free of charge) on the court’s request – stated that acid attack survivors face problems in opening bank accounts, obtaining Aadhaar cards, registering or updating property, and purchasing SIM cards for mobile phones.
Another major problem faced by acid attack survivors is KYC registration, as the process involves digitally detailing pupils, blinking, and fingerprinting to prove life.
A number of acid attack survivors had earlier urged the Supreme Court to direct the Central government to adopt an inclusive and alternative digital KYC process, keeping their constraints in mind.
Shaheen approached the country’s top court after a trial court acquitted the accused in her case.
During the hearing earlier this year, Supreme Court spoke about the need for harsher punishment in acid attack cases, suggesting that assets of the accused be attached and auctioned off to compensate the victims.
“We need to take some extraordinary measures. Unless the punishment is painful, these are the kind of cases where reformative theory has no place. Why can’t assets be seized and sold off to compensate victims?” the CJI said.
