A 32-year-old man was detained by the Odisha Police for pouring acid on his 80-year-old grandfather as the man was denied money for buying alcohol by his grandpa. The incident took place in Balagandi village of Kendrapada district of the state.
Mayna Nayak, the grandmother of the accused, filed a complaint at the Kendrapada town police station. In the complaint, she mentioned that her husband, Jaganbandhu Nayak was attacked with acid by their grandson, Niranjan Nayak. The reason told for the acid attack is the denial of money to the accused for buying alcohol by his grandpa.
The IIC of the Kendrapada Town Police Station Tapan Nayak informed victim Jaganbandhu Nayak has been admitted to the district headquarters hospital in Kendrapada.
The Kendrapada police detained the accused under IPC Section 307 (attempted murder) and 326 of IPC Section ( Voluntarily throwing or trying to hurl acid). The bail request by the accused Niranjan, was denied by the Judge on Wednesday when he was presented to the court. The court directed the police to keep him in prison.
The government of India has made strict rules to prevent incidents of acid attacks in India, Section 326A of the IPC provides for a minimum of 10 years imprisonment and it is extendable to life and with a fine. The fine is not rigidly fixed but it has to be just and reasonable to meet the medical expenses of treatment of the victim.
According to the data of the National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB), there were 102 acid attack cases in 2021, as compared to 105 in 2020 and 150 cases recorded in 2019. Though there seems a fall in such cases, it is almost negligible.
West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh top the list of states with the high number of acid attack cases and these two states recorded the highest number of those cases, accounting for nearly 50% of all cases in the country year on year.
Even though, in 2019, the charge sheeting rate of acid attack cases was 83% but the conviction rate is at 54% only. In 2020, the conviction rate shows remarkable growth and the figures were recorded at 86% and 72% respectively. But, In 2021, conviction rate figures were very disappointing as the figures stood at 89% and 20% respectively.