Chhattisgarh man gets 10 years in jail for acid attack on girl

A special court here sentenced a 21-year-old man to 10 years rigorous imprisonment for throwing acid on a teenage schoolgirl last year.

SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Special Judge Vijay Kumar Hota on Monday held Leelaram Nishad guilty under section 326 A (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid) of the Indian Penal Code and awarded him 10 years rigorous imprisonment.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on him, Special Public Prosecutor A K Shrivastav said Tuesday.

If the fine is not paid, he said, Nishad will have to undergo additional imprisonment of six months.

The court also ordered the state government to provide a compensation of Rs 1.50 lakh to the victim, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community, Shrivastav said.

On July 6, 2018, when the girl, a Class 12 student, was returning from school, Nishad, threw acid on her between Jatri and Shankarpali villages in the Pusaur area of the district, Shrivastav said.

She suffered burns on her face, neck and palm in the acid attack and was admitted to a local hospital, he said.

Nishad was a classmate of the victim in primary class, Shrivastav said.

A case was registered by Pusaur police under section 326 A of IPC and under provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes C (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Nishad was arrested on July 9 that year, he said.

The charge sheet in the case was filed on October 5 last year, he added.