J&K High Court sets strong precedent; awards life imprisonment in acid attack case

23 August 2023

Follow Ziraat Times on Whatsapp - Join Now

Srinagar, Aug 22: In what is seen as an exemplary precedent in cases of acid throwing on women by men, Principal Sessions Judge Srinagar on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to Irshad Amin Wani and Umer Noor in an acid throwing case on a woman in Srinagar.

The Principal Sessions Judge, after hearing the public prosecutor and defendant lawyers, observed, “the court understands the potential for rehabilitation and personal growth of the young convicts. However, this understanding has to be balanced against the irreversible damage inflicted by them upon the victim. The scars left on the face and psyche of the victim would serve as a haunting reminder of the brutal act, forever altering the trajectory of her life”.

“When When the loss and trauma suffered by the victim is compared with the mitigating circumstances and the chance of rehabilitation of the convicts, the tangible loss and life-long emotional trauma suffered by the victim by the horrible act committed by the convicts far out-weighs any hypothetical chance of rehabilitation of the convicts”, the court said, adding “someone capable of holding such harmful and hateful mentality and the capability to conspire and willingly go through with it over a matter as trivial as envy and jealousy cannot be trusted to be reintegrated into the society”.

“In such circumstances, the court is compelled to prioritize the sufferings of the victim as against the convicts’ potential for change and need to take a resolute stance against the convicts”, the Judge said, adding “after careful consideration of the submissions made by both the sides and having regard to the nature of the attack, the permanent disfiguration caused to the victim by the use of corrosive substance by the convicts in furtherance of criminal conspiracy and the impact of the disfiguration on the future life of the victim both physical and emotional, I find that the convicts do not deserve leniency and no other punishment except the maximum punishment of life imprisonment prescribed under law for their act can do the real and complete justice to the victim”.

Accordingly, the court awarded 10 years of imprisonment each for the offence punishable under Section 120-B RPC and made it clear that in default of payment of fine they shall undergo further imprisonment for one year.

The convicts are sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life for commission of offence punishable under Section 326-A RPC read with Section 120-B RPC. The execution of this sentence shall be subject to the confirmation by the High Court in terms of Section 376 CrPC. The fine, when recovered, shall be paid to the victim in terms of Proviso 1 and 2 of Section 326-A RPC. In default of payment of fine, the convicts shall undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years. The convicts are also sentenced to imprisonment for 3 years for offence punishable under Section 201 RPC read with 120-B RPC with fine of Rs 10,000/- each and in default of such fine they shall undergo further imprisonment for six months”, the court said.