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| India-Pakistan |
| Women MNAs submit bill to curb acid attacks |
| 2009-12-25 |
| Female parliamentarians from various mainstream political parties have submitted the 'Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Act 2009" with National Assembly Secretariat -- which proposes stern punishment for acid attacks and calls for measures to regulate businesses related to "acids and poisonous substances". Addressing a press conference along with representatives of civil society, Marvi Memon of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) unveiled the clauses of the bill -- which has been co-sponsored by Anusha Rehman of the PML-Nawaz and Shehnaz Wazir Sheikh of the PML-Q. The proposed legislation -- likely to be taken up as a private members' bill during the upcoming session of the National Assembly -- seeks amendments to Sections 332 and 336 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Two new subsections have been proposed in Section 336 of the PPC. The female parliamentarians have called for an extension in the definition of the word "hurt" and proposed that "whoever ... hurts any person by means of fire, or any heated substance, or any poison or any corrosive substance or acid, or by means of any explosive or arsenic substance, or by any substance deleterious to the human body ... would have to undergo punishment of imprisonment that may extend to a life sentence, or a fine that should not be less than Rs 500,000, or both". Also, the proposed legislation would also empower courts to direct the those convicted in such cases to pay monetary relief to meet the expenses incurred and losses suffered by the aggrieved party. The relief would also include the loss of earnings and medical expenses of the victim. In case those accused fail to pay monetary relief, the court would be empowered to direct the employers or debtors of the convicts to directly pay the aggrieved party a portion of the wages or salaries or debt to victims. The sponsors of the bill have also proposed amendments to the Poisons Act of 1919, to regulate businesses related to "acids and other poisonous products". They have called for a ban on such products' manufacture, distribution, supply and sales without a licence to be issued by a provincial authority. Anybody found involved in a breach of the conditions laid down in the proposed law would face one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 100,000 the first time, while a two-year imprisonment sentence and a fine of Rs 200,000 would be handed out for any subsequent breaches. The proposed bill would make offences within its scope "cognisable, non-bailable and compoundable". |
| Posted by:Fred |