The direction came during the hearing of an acid attack survivor, Shaheen Malik’s plea. Malik mentioned in her petition that it often gets difficult for the survivors to open bank accounts, obtain Aadhaar cards, register or update property, due to the impact of acid attacks.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked all the states and union territories to frame a policy to provide government jobs to all acid attack victims. If jobs can’t be provided, then the states and union territories were asked to frame a policy to pay a subsistence allowance to the survivors.
“All states/Union territories will show cause why a scheme for the rehabilitation of victims of acid attacks through jobs in government departments/agencies has not been formulated,” the bench of the Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said. Adding further, it mentioned, “If there are logistical issues in providing government employment to victims of acid attacks, the state governments could formulate a policy to pay a subsistence allowance to acid attack victims.”
The direction came while hearing the case of Shaheen Malik, an acid attack survivor. Malik, who was represented by senior advocate Sidharth Luthra pro bono (free of charge) on the court’s request, mentioned in her petition that acid attack survivors often face hardships in opening bank accounts, obtaining Aadhaar cards, registering or updating property, and purchasing mobile SIM cards.
In addition to this, the problems of KYC registration for acid attack survivors were also raised in court. It was said that the survivors go through extreme difficulties for KYC registration as the process involves digitally detailing pupils, blinking, and fingerprinting to prove life, which often becomes impossible for acid attack victims.
Several acid attack survivors earlier requested the Supreme Court to order the Central government to adopt an inclusive and alternative digital KYC process, given their difficulties and constraints.
Earlier this year, the Court flagged the need for harsher punishment in acid attack cases, suggesting that the assets of the accused should be attached and auctioned off to compensate the victims. The observations came during the hearing of the same Shaheen Malik plea, who approached the Supreme Court after a trial court acquitted the accused in her case.
