A Court in Delhi has sentenced a man to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment for attacking a man & his two minor daughters with acid in 2017, observing that punishment for a crime must conform to the brutality with which it was perpetrated.

Observing that the incident destroyed the childhood of the girls & took away employment opportunities from the father, the court awarded a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the three victims as "restorative & compensatory justice".

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Aditi Garg was hearing the arguments on sentencing against Raghav Mukhia (28), who was earlier convicted under Section 326 A (causing grievous hurt by acid) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

In its verdict pronounced on Wednesday, the court sentenced Mukhia to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment while citing a 2005 Supreme Court judgment, as per which, the punishment for a crime had to conform & be consistent with the brutality with which it was perpetrated, & that it had to respond to the society's cry for justice against the criminal.

On the aspect of compensation, the court said the female victims were school students in 2017 & the acid attack prevented them from realising their full potential in their careers.
It also noted that the father's health deteriorated after the attack & he later underwent heart surgery.

"This incident had not just handicapped the family financially, it also impacted the family members psychologically. Due to the acid attack, the victim (first minor girl aged 13 at the time of the incident) suffered 30-40 per cent disability.

"During interaction, the court observed that she still has acid burn marks on her body & had humbly stated that she feels insecure & under-confident because of the trauma caused by the incident," the judge said.

ASJ Garg said the second minor victim (aged 8 years at the time of the incident) also had burn marks & she told the court about the attack making her "emotionally vulnerable".

"Therefore, it can be seen that this incident destroyed the childhood of the victims," the judge said, adding that because of the attack, their father lost employment opportunities.

"Hence it becomes imperative to provide restorative & compensatory justice to the injured persons," the court said.

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