Two awarded with life imprisonment for acid attack on woman and daughter

The District Court of Gurugram sentenced two men to life imprisonment for throwing acid on a 30-year-old married woman and her minor daughter in their Palam Vihar residence in December 2014. The additional district and sessions judge Vivek Singhal termed the crime as gruesome and awarded the sentence to Raja, 22 yrs and Azad, 28 yrs and also imposed a fine of Rs. 1 lakh each. The court also ordered that 60% of the income of the convicts during their jail term will go to the acid attack survivors. However, the third accused in the case, Arif, 23yrs has been let off due to lack of evidence. In December 2014, Azad entered the house in Palam Vihar pretending to be a plumber and threw acid on Suman who sustained 30% burns. Her nine-year-old daughter who was there in the house at the time also sustained five per cent burns as some of the acid splashed on her. After a few days, Raja, Azad and Arif, were arrested by the police from there Dharma colony residence. Public Prosecutor Pravesh Bagri said that during the investigation it emerged that Raja had hatched the plot to disfigure Suman's face as he was infuriated because of her rejection. He also pointed out that Arif had introduced Azad to Raja, who was engaged for the job and offered a sum of Rs 30,000. During the trial, Raja had claimed to be a minor at the time of the crime and his family members also produced a birth certificate from Muzzafarpur Municipal Corporation, which was later found to be fake. Bagri requested the court to check the authenticity of the birth certificate and only after several notices for the same, the registrar of Muzzafarpur Municipal Corporation appeared before the court and clarified that the birth certificate was not issued by the corporation. Now, a case has been registered against Raja's family members for producing fake document in the court.

This decision by the District Court was much required as it sets an example of quick and efficient judgment by the courts. This decision of the court has brought back the victims' faith in the judicial system of our country, which often suffers criticism for its delay in justice. The convicts have been rightly punished with life imprisonment.