The three accused arrested for the Dwarka acid attack on Wednesday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Nine years have passed since the Supreme Court imposed a nationwide ban on over-the-counter sale of acid without a licence. Yet, senior police officers on Wednesday said corrosive substances are readily sold in shops across the city, despite the crackdown on the errant shopkeepers.
The police told Today News 24 that they regularly undertake district-wise drives, where beat officers and senior personnel from the office of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) raid shops that illegally sell acids or corrosive substances over-the-counter, prosecute the accused under Section 4(2) of the Poisons Act, 1919, and arrest them immediately. The SDM also penalises the accused sellers up to ₹50,000, which is used for the rehabilitation of acid attack survivors.
In the Dwarka acid attack on Wednesday, the accused reportedly had bought the acid from an e-commerce website. A police officer said buying acid online is a “less used method” by perpetrators, who mostly buy it from retail outlets.
DCP (Dwarka) M. Harsha Vardhan said a notice has been sent to the e-commerce website to seek information about the seller of the acid. An officer privy to the investigation said, “Online outlets have to keep a check on retailers who sell them. We will get information on how the accused got the acid without any verification.”
2013 apex court order
In a 2013 ruling, the Supreme Court said that establishments selling acids will compulsorily require a licence to do so and have to be registered under the Poisons Act. It also outlined that owners of such shops must ask customers to furnish an ID proof and disclose the reason for buying the acid. Such shops also need to maintain a register of their stock and individual sales of the acid, it added.
“Corrosive substances are often bought for commercial purposes by the accused from small pharmacies and neighbourhood retail shops, which sell them without demanding an ID and valid reason for purchase. Drives against errant sellers are carried out on regular intervals, but most retailers do it discreetly. Hence, it is difficult to identify all these people,” a senior police officer said.
Sellers of such substances have to abide by the Delhi Poisons Possession and Sales Rules, 2015, which regulates the storage and sale of acid. “Persons selling these substances need to get a licence from the Delhi Police’s Licensing Department and renew every year after due verification of their premises by police personnel,” the senior officer added.
According to one policeman, “Some retail outlets often sell them in small bottles for ₹100-200, making them easily accessible to the accused, who even buy it from small-scale chemical factories where it is readily sold without verification”.
Another said, “Many accused buy acid from shops on the pretext of using it to clean their tiles in bathroom/toilets or other sanitary purposes.”
Officials question sale
Several women’s groups and acid attack survivors lashed out at the sale of acid. Lieutenant-Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena too questioning the sale despite the ban, and asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal “how could the accused have gathered so much courage” in the Dwarka case.
Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal issued a notice to Delhi Police and the Delhi Home Department, seeking an action-taken report on recommendations regarding the ban on retail sale of acid.
She said, “Acid is being sold in retail shops like vegetables without any regulation. Why has the government not acted upon it? If need be, we will move the court against retail sale of acids in the city.”
National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma wrote to the Delhi Police Commissioner to personally intervene in the case and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights asked where the accused had procured the substance.
20 attacks in two years
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, from 2019 to 2021, Delhi recorded a total of 20 incidents of acid attacks.
Acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, on whose PIL the apex court passed the 2013 judgement, said that despite the order, acid sale continues unabated. “Nothing has changed and the lethal fluid continues to destroy lives… authorities should crack down on such persons who break the law.”
Ms. Agarwal was present outside the Safdarjung Hospital burns unit on Wednesday, where the 17-year-old Dwarka acid attack victim was being treated.