By Dr Swati Jindal Garg
“Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth.”
—Kofi Annan
Acid does not merely burn flesh; it dissolves dreams, melts identities and leaves behind a lifelong trail of psychological and physical trauma that no number of reconstructive surgeries can ever truly erase.
For more than a decade, the legal system has lived with the assumption that the landmark 2013 directions in Laxmi vs Union of India had addressed the crisis. But the reality on the ground tells a very different story. Walk into the cold, echoing corridors of a trial court, or sit across from a survivor whose courage outshines her scars, and an uncomfortable truth emerges: the regulatory safeguards framed with such legislative intent have largely become paper tigers, while local counters can still hand out concentrated, potentially lethal chemicals for a handful of loose change.
In Shaheen Malik vs Union of India, Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1112/2025, the Supreme Court has now confronted that failure head-on. A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, has directed the states and Union territories to formulate specific rehabilitation schemes for acid-attack survivors within six weeks. It has also asked the Union government to respond on why the retail sale of acid should not be completely banned or, alternatively, permitted only under stringent restrictions. The matter is listed for further consideration on October 27, 2026.
The apex court’s intervention goes well beyond the regulation of a dangerous substance. It strikes at the larger failure of the State to protect survivors after the attack—with adequate medical care, rehabilitation, education, employment and social security.
When statutory machinery falls asleep at the wheel, justice cannot remain a passive spectator. The law must step in with unyielding force.
THE MANDATE FROM THE BENCH
During the proceedings, the bench confronted the inadequacy of compliance affidavits filed by the states. It noted that the 2013 guidelines had become largely obsolete and were not being properly followed. It, therefore, directed every state government and Union territory to formulate and place on record a rehabilitation scheme within six weeks.
The apex court specifically sought schemes addressing compensation, rehabilitation and medical aid, and indicated that rehabilitation should extend to free education, employment opportunities, free treatment and financial support during periods of unemployment. It also asked the Union government to consider preparing a model scheme and providing the states with the assistance necessary to implement it.
The Court also required information on the number of acid attacks reported year by year, whether charge sheets had been filed, and how many cases remained pending at the trial or appellate stage. The states were further asked to provide particulars of survivors, including their educational qualifications, employment status, medical needs and treatment expenses.
It has been rightly said: “Justice without force is impotent; force without justice is tyrannical.”
The Court’s intervention is significant because it recognises that rehabilitation cannot end with a compensation cheque. A survivor may require years of reconstructive surgery, psychological counselling, education, employment and social support.
The Court has also confronted a glaring statutory issue relating to the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. Acid-attack survivors are included within the schedule to the Act, but the statutory language has traditionally referred to persons “disfigured due to violent assaults by throwing of acid.”
That formulation can create a tragic legal blind spot for victims subjected to forced acid ingestion. Their internal organs, digestive systems and lungs may be devastated even when their faces remain outwardly intact. The underlying injury can, therefore, be every bit as catastrophic while falling outside a framework built around visible disfigurement.
The legal question is fundamental: should protection depend upon what the injury looks like, rather than what it has done to the survivor’s body and life?
THE HUMAN STRUGGLE BEHIND THE CASE
To understand the significance of the proceedings, one must look at the woman who brought the issue before the Court.
Shaheen Malik, an acid-attack survivor and human-rights defender, filed the PIL to expose the continuing failures in the enforcement and rehabilitation framework.
Her own journey through the legal system illustrates the ordeal survivors can face. Her criminal trial remained pending for nearly 15 years, a delay the Supreme Court had earlier described in stark terms. Rather than retreat into silence, Malik built support networks and brought before the Court real-world evidence of how easily acid could still be obtained.
Among the cases brought to the Court was that of a 28-year-old woman who was forced to swallow acid. Her weight fell to barely 20 kilograms and her internal organs suffered irreversible damage. Yet, a legal framework focused on visible “disfigurement” could leave such a survivor outside the traditional conception of disability protection.
The PIL laid bare three crushing realities:
Unchecked market access: Concentrated acid can remain accessible through retail channels despite the safeguards laid down by the Supreme Court.
Procedural stagnation: Prosecutions for acid attacks can remain trapped in trial-court backlogs, prolonging the trauma of survivors.
Paper compliance: Government affidavits may describe elaborate mechanisms without establishing whether survivors actually receive lifelong medical care, rehabilitation, employment or social security.
The Supreme Court’s latest order has now demanded that those gaps be confronted with concrete data and enforceable schemes.
FROM LAXMI TO PARIVARTAN KENDRA: THE EVOLUTION OF JUDICIAL RESOLVE
The latest intervention does not stand alone. It is the newest chapter in a long history of judicial attempts to control chemical violence in India.
In Laxmi vs Union of India, the Supreme Court directed states to regulate acid under the Poisons Act framework and imposed safeguards on its sale. Sellers were required to record transactions, obtain identification and details of the purchaser and the purpose for which acid was being purchased, and maintain records of stock. Sales to minors were prohibited. The Court also directed compensation and free emergency treatment for victims.
The Court subsequently strengthened the compensation framework. In Parivartan Kendra vs Union of India (2015), it recognised that the consequences of an acid attack extend far beyond the initial physical injury. The Court awarded Rs 10 lakh to one victim in view of the severity of her injuries, the costs of grafting and reconstructive surgery, and the physical and mental suffering involved. It also directed the State to take responsibility for treatment and rehabilitation.
The Court had earlier prescribed Rs 3 lakh as the minimum compensation payable to acid-attack victims, while making clear that the amount could be increased in appropriate cases. Parivartan Kendra emphasised that compensation must take account not merely of physical injury, but of the survivor’s inability to lead a full life and enjoy the opportunities that had been taken away.
It has been said that “rights without remedies are like shadow without substance.”
These judicial milestones eventually contributed to the broader recognition of acid-attack survivors within disability law. But Shaheen Malik exposes the central weakness that has persisted throughout: legislation and judicial orders mean little if the machinery of enforcement treats them as optional instructions.
BRIDGING THE CHASM BETWEEN LAW AND ENFORCEMENT
The Supreme Court’s latest intervention strikes at the heart of India’s administrative failure: sophisticated legal frameworks are meaningless if they do not work where survivors actually live.
Law rises above words only when its shield reaches the vulnerable.
When corrosive chemicals capable of destroying a human face and body remain readily accessible through ordinary commercial channels, the State’s failure to control their distribution becomes more than administrative negligence. It becomes a failure of the protective duty owed to citizens.
A complete retail ban on acid may create some inconvenience for legitimate commercial or cleaning activities. But such inconvenience has to be weighed against the catastrophic consequences of unrestricted access to a substance that can permanently destroy a human life.
The Supreme Court has, therefore, placed the question squarely before the executive: should retail acid sales be prohibited altogether, or can they be made sufficiently restrictive to prevent their misuse? The answer will determine whether the regulatory model introduced more than a decade ago is finally replaced—or finally enforced.
The clock is ticking. The ball is now firmly in the executive’s court to demonstrate whether its solemn promises to acid-attack survivors will finally translate into real, life-saving protection—or remain buried beneath yet another layer of official affidavits.
—The author is an Advocate-on-Record practising in the Supreme Court,
Delhi High Court and all district courts and tribunals in Delhi
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