Patna,(BiharTimes): Pulling up the Centre as well as state governments a bench of Justices M Y Eqbal and C Nagappan of Supreme Court on Monday ordered all States and Union Territories to consider acid attack survivors as disabled people.

Thus the victim can benefit from several government schemes meant for physically handicapped people such as three per cent reservations in the government jobs.

Criticising the Centre and the state governments for the easy availability of acid and the rampant use of the corrosive substance to destroy innocent lives the Court directed payment of Rs 10 lakh to Chanchal, a Dalit victim from Bihar, and bear the charge of surgery as well as Rs three lakh to her sister.

The apex court also criticised the government for the total lack of legal guarantee, free medical care and rehabilitation and inadequate compensation schemes for survivors of the acid attack case.

Condemning the “appalling” way the Bihar government and its law enforcement apparatus in 2012 treated a Dalit girl who suffered 90 per cent acid burns on her face in a brutal attack by four men the judgement narrated how her four assailants had under the cover of darkness in October 2012 sneaked into her house, where she and her sister were sleeping. They overpowered her, poured acid on her face and body. As some acid fell on her sister she too received injuries. The perpetrators stayed there to “enjoy” as both girls shrieked with pain.

According to the ruling Chanchal, who dreamt of becoming a computed engineer used to attend college regularly while helping her family make ends meet by working as a daily wage earner.

The Court recalled as to how the family-members, who rushed the girl and her sister to the hospital, had to wait till the next morning for the doctors to arrive.

The Court said the treatment was slipshod, and finally Chanchal, with the help of an NGO, had to be shifted to Delhi for extensive surgeries. Bihar Police could arrest the accused persons only a month after the incident following intense media and public furore.

Not only that the police did not take her statement despite an assurance from the Inspector General of Police.

The judgement said the State government coughed up Rs 2.42 lakh for Chanchal’s treatment, when the family had already spent over Rs. five lakh to revive her.

“The very sight of the victim is traumatizing for us,” the judgement said adding “If we could be traumatized by the mere sight of injuries caused to the victim by the inhumane acid attack on her, what would the situation of the victim be... Perhaps, we cannot judge.”