HC upholds life term in acid attack case

Madras High Court has upheld the life sentence awarded to a 31-year-old man in an acid attack case which caused the death of a woman in 2013, observing that the punishment imposed by a lower court was reasonable and proportionate.
Dismissing the appeal filed by accused Vijay Bhaskar, a division bench comprising justices S Nagamuthu and V Bharathidasan said the trial court order of 2015 was right in convicting the accused and sentencing him to life imprisonment as the prosecution has proved the case beyond all reasonable doubts.
According to prosecution, Bhaskar wanted to marry 21-year old Vidya and her family had sought three months time to conduct it. Meanwhile, suspecting that she was in relationship with another person, he had attacked her with the acid at a computer centre where she worked on January 30, 2013.

Even as the victim ducked, the acid fell on her back and hands. The accused then rubbed her face on the floor where the acid had been spilt, leaving her seriously injured. Vidya died at a hospital about a month later.
The high court observed that the accused had poured acid on the woman and since it did not fall on her face, he rubbed her face against the acid spilt on the floor and also manhandled her.
Hence, the punishment imposed was reasonable and proportionate, the judges ruled upholding the Kancheepuram District Principal Sessions Court order sentencing him to life imprisonment.

Rejecting arguments of the accused's counsel, the bench said, the dying declaration of the woman was recorded by the Metropolitan Magistrate based on the opinion of the doctor who had attended the deceased, stating that she was conscious and in a fit state of mind to give the statement.
The judicial dying declaration was in conformity with the statement recorded by the police, it observed and said, "The prosecution has clearly established that it was the accused who threw acid on the deceased which ultimately resulted in her death.