Nepal adopts ordinance against acid attacks, culprits to face 20 years in jail

Nepal's Council of Ministers on Friday passed an ordinance against acid attackers amending the Criminal Offence and Criminal Procedure Act which will later take the form of law after ratification from the President.

"If a person dies due to acid attack, then the culprit will be awarded a life sentence and in case the victim is injured or body parts are damaged, then, the culprit will be handed over with 20 years in jail and a penalty of one million rupees," Law Minister ShivamayaTumbahangphe told ANI.

The National Criminal Code of the Himalayan Nation already has a provision in the law of a life sentence in case an acid attack victim dies. The new ordinance which tends to criminalized acid attacks has broadened the criteria of penalization for the perpetrator.

As per the new ordinance, if a person sustains injuries over the eyes, ears, nose, face, breast and private parts then the attacker would be sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.

In case, the attempt fails then the person would be charged with "attempting acid attack and disintegration" and if proved guilty then, they would face a sentence of 10 years.

If victims lose sight of both the eyes, lose hearing capacity, burns on the nose permanently damaging or causing serious dysfunction, damage to the face, burnt breast or permanently damage it in the due course of attack in case of women or permanently damage the private organs or cause harm to it, then the person accountable for the loss or damage will face 20 years of imprisonment and One Million Nepali rupees as fine.

Damage to one eye, ear or hearing disability in one of the ear, burn on the side of the face, burn either side of the breasts in case of women permanently dysfunction-ing it, burn both the hands or legs or cause damage, burn a part of the head or damage it and cause serious impact on the backbone or permanently damage the part, then the culprit would he handed over with jail sentence to maximum 20 years and 10 years in minimum along with a penalty of 7 to 10 Lakhs Nepali rupees.

In case a person encounters any sort of physical damage or harm as a result of an acid attack, then the perpetrator will be handed with a 5 to 10 years prison sentence and a fine of Rupees one lakh to five lakh.

In case the acid attack attempt fails then the attacker would still be found guilty and would face life imprisonment extending to 10 years and 5 Lakhs rupees as a penalty.

The ordinance also has mentioned the later death of the acid attack victim which states that the late death of the victim also would be accounted as murder and damage on other body parts would be decided during the hearing and penalize the attacker.

A new ordinance issued by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli administration also has ensured free of cost treatment for victims of acid attack and also has put a ban on collecting funds in the name to help the victims.

(ANI)

Also Read: China confirms dip in birth rates in Xinjiang; denies forced sterilization and genocide