Supreme Court orders rehabilitation fund, job quota for acid attack survivors

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday declared acid throwing a crime “worse than murder” and ordered federal and provincial governments to enact sweeping legal reforms, including the creation of a national rehabilitation fund and mandatory job quotas for survivors.

The landmark directives were issued in a 14-page judgment authored by Justice Hashim Kakar, which rejected an appeal by a man convicted of launching an acid attack on a woman in Faisalabad.

The apex court upheld the perpetrator’s life imprisonment sentence and ordered him to pay Rs1 million in compensation to the victim.

The Supreme Court issued legally binding guidelines to federal and provincial authorities, aimed at addressing the long-term medical and societal isolation faced by survivors.

The court ordered governments to officially include acid attack survivors within the employment and educational quotas reserved for persons with disabilities.

The top court instructed lawmakers to draft and pass legislation to establish a “National Acid Survivors Rehabilitation Fund.”

The judgment mandated the fixation of a monthly stipend or allowance for survivors to ensure their financial security.

Combating ‘Social Death’

Justice Kakar wrote extensively on the deep psychological scars left by such attacks, noting that acid survivors often experience a form of “social death” due to disfigurement and subsequent isolation.

“Acid throwing is a heinous crime that is worse than murder,” the court observed, emphasizing that a victim is forced to live through the physical and mental trauma for the rest of their life.

To counter this, the Supreme Court directed the state to formulate comprehensive national rehabilitation guidelines.

Under these guidelines, governments must allocate permanent funding to ensure survivors receive lifetime medical treatment, specialized surgeries, physical therapy, and robust psychological support.

Systemic Enforcement

To ensure immediate compliance across the country’s judicial hierarchy, the Supreme Court directed its registrar to dispatch copies of the judgment to all provincial high courts.

Official copies have also been forwarded to the federal law secretary, the chairman of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, and provincial law departments to initiate the required legislative processes.

The ruling comes amid long-standing calls from human rights organizations in Pakistan for stricter regulation of acid sales and more structural state support for the hundreds of women who fall victim to gender-based violence and chemical attacks each year.