HC asks Delhi govt to provide treatment to acid attack victim

The Delhi High Court today directed the city government to provide free medical treatment to an acid attack victim who suffered injuries in a 2009 attack.
Observing that the "state owes a duty to provide free medical treatment to acid attack victims", Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said the Delhi government should provide specialised treatment to the victim at a private hospital here as the same is not available at LNJP Hospital.
The court also sought response of the Delhi government and Delhi State Legal Services Authority on the woman's plea for her rehabilitation and enhancement of the compensation amount.
The bench said that the ceiling of Rs seven lakh for medical treatment of an acid attack survivor - under the Victim Compensation Scheme - was arbitrary and unreasonable as the victim had suffered serious injuries.

In a plea by another victim before the same bench, the court directed the Delhi government to provide employment to the 29-year-old woman on the compassionate ground.
She was 19 years old when a tenant in her family house threw acid on her face in Delhi's Shahdara area. She had asked the man to vacate his room.

The attack left her blind and made her dependent on constant medical treatment. Sharma's attacker was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Since the incident, which took place on February 15, 2006, the victim has undergone 15 surgeries, but received only Rs three lakh from the Delhi government as compensation, an amount which she said is "grossly inadequate".

Her father's income as a Group D employee in the railways is insufficient to support the rising medical expenses and hence she decided to move court for compensation, said her advocate Kamlesh Kumar Mishra.
The victim had approached the Delhi High Court with a plea seeking enhanced compensation of Rs 50 lakh.