17-year-old girl in critical condition after acid attack in Delhi

Police say one of the suspected attackers has been detained

A 17-year-old girl in India’s capital New Delhi has been attacked with acid by two bike-borne assailants on Wednesday, police said.

The incident took place in the West Delhi’s Dwarka area on Wednesday morning, police said, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) M Harsha Vardhan said: “A PCR [Police Control Room] call was received around 9 am regarding an incident of throwing acid on a girl in the area of Mohan Garden Police Station. It was stated that a girl aged 17 years was allegedly attacked with some acid-like substance by two persons on a bike around 7.30am this morning.”

Police said that the minor was with her younger sister at the time of the incident.

CCTV footage of the incident shows two bike-borne men throwing something on the girl as she stood on the side of a busy road.

“Our younger daughter came running to the house and said that acid has been thrown at her sister. Both the boys had covered their faces, they are yet to be identified. It (acid) has entered both her eyes,” the victim’s father was quoted as saying to ANI.

Authorities said that the girl is in a critical condition and is receiving treatment at Safdarjung Hospital.

“She has suffered 7-8 per cent facial burns and her eyes have also been affected. She is being examined. She is admitted in the burn ICU and is stable,” a doctor was quoted as saying.

According to the police, one of the alleged culprits has been detained.

The minor had given two names to the police of the possible assailants.

Women’s body, Delhi Commission for Women, took cognizance of the incident and issued a notice to the Delhi police.

Chairperson Swati Maliwal said in a statement on Twitter: “In the country’s capital, two miscreants throw acid on a schoolgirl in broad daylight and leave… Is anyone afraid of the law now? Why acid is not banned? SHAME.”

She also called on the government to enforce the ban on sale of acid in the country.

The sale of acid has been banned in India since 2013.

“Today acid is being sold in the country as easily as vegetables are sold. Despite our many reports, why doesn’t the government completely ban the retail sale of acid?”

In August, the federal home ministry said in a reply to parliament 1,483 acid attacks have been registered in the country between 2014 and 2018.

The Union Home Ministry, in reply to a Parliament question in August this year cited data published by the National Crime Records Bureau and said that a total of 386 cases of acid attacks on women were registered between 2018 and 2020.

A total of 62 people were convicted in the same period.

Earlier this year, the Delhi Commission for Women said that it had found that no inspections or raids had been conducted in two districts in Delhi on acid sale in six years.

It also found that in six districts in the capital not a single penalty was imposed.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal promised strict action after the incident on Wednesday.

“This cannot be tolerated at all. How did the accused gather so much courage? The accused should be given the strictest punishment. The safety of every girl child in Delhi is important to us,” he said in a tweet.

The home ministry’s reply in parliament in August said that regulation of such incidents came under respective state governments.

It said that the terms of the Poisons Act, 1919, States/ Union Territories regulate the possession and sale of acids and corrosive chemicals, including wholesale and retail sales, through their respective Poison Rules.

It added that no central data is available on its sale.

“Data is not maintained centrally on sale of acids and corrosive chemicals.”