The Hindu : Front Page : Man convicted of acid attack gets life imprisonment

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Wednesday, Aug 23, 2006

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Man convicted of acid attack gets life imprisonment

Staff Reporter

The victim's face has been totally disfigured

SENTENCED: Police personnel escorting Joseph Rodriguez after the High Court gave its verdict in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday sentenced to imprisonment for life a resident of Bangalore for ruining the life of a woman by throwing acid on her.

A Division Bench comprising Justice S.R. Bannurmath and Justice Subash B. Adi was hearing an appeal by the State against a May 6, 2004 order of the 10th Additional Sessions Judge, Bangalore. The Sessions court had convicted Joseph Rodriguez (33) of Jalahalli East for throwing acid on Haseena (20) on April 20, 1999, and sentenced him to five years imprisonment and pay a fine of Rs. 3 lakh.

Haseena, who had finished her computer course while studying B.Com 1st year, was working in Neha Computers, which belonged to Joseph. Haseena left the job after the firm started making losses and joined another firm in H.M.T. Layout. Joseph began pestering her to leave the new job and join his company. When she refused, he threw sulphuric acid on her when she was nearing the gate of the new company where she was working.

Haseena's face was disfigured and she lost her eyesight. Reproducing Haseena's photographs in the judgment, the Bench said, "one would shudder to look at her damaged face." It said Haseena could not come out of her house and walk in the streets and had thus become a prisoner in her house.

It said it could not shut its eyes to the growing and obnoxious tendency of the youth to use corrosive substances such as acid, causing not only severe physical damage but also mental trauma in the victims." In case the acid victim survives, it will only be as a grotesque disfigured person, who lives with mangled flesh and suffers a fate worse than death, the Bench said.

Quoting a Supreme Court judgment, it said it would be a mockery of justice to permit the accused to escape the extreme penalty of the law.

The courts, it said, should not only keep in view the rights of the criminal but also the rights of the victim and society while imposing punishments. It said by the ghastly act of throwing acid, Joseph had transformed a beautiful woman into a human being with ghostly appearance. The injuries are painful and will continue to haunt her all her life, it added.

The Bench sentenced Joseph to imprisonment for life under Section 307. He was asked to pay a compensation of Rs. 2 lakhs to the victim.

It directed the State Government to expeditiously start special help and rehabilitation for victims of acid attacks. It took note of the fact that restorative surgeries cost a fortune and they were not affordable to the ordinary people.

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