Corroding justice: Gaps in punishing acid violence

Namita Bhandare

- Namita Bhandare

For 16 years after being attacked by acid, after losing sight in one eye and after 25 surgeries, Shaheen Malik did not lose hope.

There was heartbreak when a trial court in December last year acquitted the three adult conspirators — the minor who did the job of actually dousing her with acid spent three years in jail, the most the law allows for juveniles. Then, she filed an appeal.

This week, she was in the Supreme Court in a separate public interest litigation filed by her for victims forced to ingest acid, causing unseen but devastating damage. “I spent the prime of my life pursuing the case,” the now 42-year-old told a Supreme Court bench about her own case. “I have not lost hope.”