The Telangana Council of Ministers on Thursday gave their approval to amend a Central legislation — Poisons Act, 1919 — with a view to enhancing the punishment for acid attacks to life imprisonment.
The Cabinet approved adding three Sections to Section 6 of the Act, namely Section 6 (A) which stipulates that a police inspector or Munsif Magistrate will be authorised to investigate the cases; Section 6 (B) which enhanced punishment to a minimum of 10 years and maximum of life imprisonment and Section 6 (C) making the cases cognisable and non-bailable.
The punishment also included payment of fine equal to the expenditure incurred by the victims for the treatment. In case of death, the fine was payable to the legal heir of the victims.
With the addition of three new Sections, the Telangana government will pass a bill and send it to the President for approval, according to the Principal Medical and Health Secretary, Rajeshwar Tiwari.
The punishment hitherto under Section 6 was three months and a fine of Rs. 500 for the first offence and six months and Rs. 1,000 for the second and subsequent offence.
The Telangana government had framed the rules under the Act in 2014 that contained an Annexure, listing out all acids which were hazardous to human body. People who acted in contravention of these rules were liable to penalty under Section of the Poisons Act, 1919. But, they will now be governed by Sections 6 (A), (B) and (C) after the State The Telangana government’s decision to amend the Central legislation was a sequel to the Supreme Court’s judgment in 2013 asking the Centre and the State governments to be forthcoming in revising laws to come down heavily on culprits of acid attacks.
The court dealt with a petition by a girl who was an acid attack survivor and wanted an end to such incidents. The Act empowered the State governments to declare any substance as `poison’ by framing rules and regulating its sale. The Ministry of Home Affairs had prepared a model law to be adopted by the State governments.
