Supreme Court orders Rs. 3.5 lakh compensation to Acid Attack victim, expresses “shock” at High Court decision [Read judgment]

The Supreme Court has ordered a compensation of Rs. 3.5 lakh to a victim of acid attack. It also restored the sentence of rigorous imprisonment for one year awarded to the accused by the trial court..The judgment was passed by a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi in an appeal filed by the victim challenging the judgment of High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh. Advocate Aparna Bhat appeared for the victim while advocate Y Raja Gopala Rao appeared for the accused..By way of background, the appellant was attacked with acid by the accused in 2003 because the victim’s family had turned down the accused’s proposal to marry the victim..The trial judge held him guilty under Section 326 and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for one year and directed to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000..This was challenged in the High Court, which upheld the conviction but modified the sentence of imprisonment reducing it to the period already undergone..The State government chose not to challenge the said decision of the High Court. The victim, however, approached the Supreme Court contending that the period of custody suffered by the accused was a mere thirty days..Advocate Aparna Bhat, who appeared for the appellant contended that.“… by no stretch of imagination, the period undergone, that is, 30 days, can be regarded as appropriate for the offence under Section 326 IPC and definitely not when there is acid attack.”.Y Raja Gopala Rao, appearing for the respondent, argued that the occurrence had taken place long back and with efflux of time, the appellant as well as the respondent have been leading their individual separate married lives. Therefore, it was his argument that it would not be appropriate to interfere with the sentence given by the High Court..The court after placing reliance on different judgments including the judgment of Laxmi v. Union of India modified the sentence awarded by the High Court..It directed the State government to pay a compensation of Rs. 3 lakh and the accused to pay Rs. 50,000 as compensation..“Regard being had to the aforesaid decisions, we direct the accused-respondent No. 2 to pay a compensation of Rs.50,000 and the State to pay a compensation of Rs.3 lakhs”.Regarding imprisonment, it restored the sentence awarded by the trial court..“If the accused does not pay the compensation amount within six months, he shall suffer further rigorous imprisonment of six months, in addition to what has been imposed by the trial court.”.Interestingly, the Court also expressed its “shock” at the approach adopted by the High Court..“In view of what we have stated, the approach of the High Court shocks us and we have no hesitation in saying so. When there is medical evidence that there was an acid attack on the young girl and the circumstances having brought home by cogent evidence and the conviction is given the stamp of approval, there was no justification to reduce the sentence to the period already undergone. We are at a loss to understand whether the learned Judge has been guided by some unknown notion of mercy or remaining oblivious of the precedents relating to sentence or for that matter, not careful about the expectation of the collective from the court, for the society at large eagerly waits for justice to be done in accordance with law, has reduced the sentence.”.It even went so far as to state that if a sentence of 30 days imprisonment is imposed for a crime like acid attack, it would amount to sending justice on “vanaprastha”..“When a substantive sentence of thirty days is imposed, in the crime of present nature, that is, acid attack on a young girl, the sense of justice, if we allow ourselves to say so, is not only ostracized, but also is unceremoniously sent to “Vānaprastha”. It is wholly impermissible.”.Read judgment below..Image taken from here.