Dhaka firms up law to curb acid attacks on women

DHAKA - A law to curb violence against women in the form of acid being thrown at them has been approved in Bangladesh, which has witnessed 132 incidents of this kind since January.

The legislation, Acid Control (Amendment) Bill, 2009, aims to establish “strict government control on the use of acid materials and curb acid related crimes”, it was announced Monday after approval was given by the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Acid is available in the open market as an industrial raw material. Its use by men spurned by women and who get away because of lax laws and poor police investigations has been a subject of debate in Bangladesh.

Statistics compiled by the Acid Survivors’ Foundation (ASF), an NGO, show that the 99 percent of the victims file cases but the criminals somehow get away. Only 10 to 12 percent of the criminals receive punishment and the rest escape during the trial process.

The latest victim of the attack last Saturday was Shila of Kushtia, a town in south-western Bangladesh.

She was about to be married to an expatriate living in Saudi Arabia last Friday. “But she is now moaning with pain in the bed of the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) hospital,” New Age newspaper said Tuesday.

“Some miscreants” poured acid through the open window when the family members were asleep the day before the ceremony, it said.

According to the ASF statistics, a total 132 people across the country received acid burns in the past 10 months of this year.

ASF executive director Monira Rahman said the incidents of acid violence are taking place for lack of implementation of the acid-related laws.