Anguished over the death of a woman who was forced to drink acid for refusing to stay with a man, Delhi High Court has directed the police to deal acid attacks with an "iron hand" and take stern steps to curb its illegal sale.
A bench of justices GS Sistani and Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued the direction while upholding the life term awarded to Umesh Kumar, an auto driver, who had murdered a 30-year-old married women on account of her refusal to live with him.
Holding that the trial court has rightly convicted and sentenced Mr Kumar, the high court said "no effort has been made during investigation to investigate the source from where the acid was procured by the appellant."
It also said that the investigating officer had not performed his duty "with sincerity as efforts should have been made to ascertain the source of acid and to take necessary steps against the sale of acid illegally."
The court was hearing Mr Kumar's appeal against the trial court's November 2011 decision, sentencing him to undergo life imprisonment for murder of deceased Suman.
"Two years prior to the incident, Suman had left her husband and married Kumar. However, she had later left Kumar and came back to her house," the police said, adding that Mr Kumar "telephoned Suman to return and threatened her that in case she did not return he would kidnap her child".
"In the light of the above, we find that there is no merit in the appeal and the same is accordingly dismissed," the court said.
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