Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill, 2010 approved

National Assembly Standing Committee on Women Development on Saturday unanimously approved "The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill, 2010" The standing committee passed the bill in a meeting held with Bushra Gohar in chair at the Parliament House. Before approval, the committee discussed "The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill, 2010" in detail.
There is lifetime imprisonment for those who commit this crime but not less than 14-year depending on the nature of the case while the maximum fine is Rs 1 million. According to statement of objects and reasons of the bill, the crime of throwing acid on women is becoming more common and recurring day by day. The main cause is the absence of proper legislation on the subject. Moreover, there is no law to regulate the manufacturing and supply of acid, resultantly; any person has easy access to it.
Therefore, the criminal minded people are constantly using it as a dangerous and devastating arm against the women. In these circumstances, there is increasing need of comprehensive legislation in this regard. The purpose of the bill is to control the import, production, transportation, hoarding, sale and use of acid to prevent the misuse of acid and provide legal support to acid and burn victims.
The committee omitted Clauses 5-9 in the bill about reference to Poison Act except definition wider than only Acid. The committee in Clause 4 amendment in CCP inserted so that Crime is enforceable. The committee proposed punishments/penalties in Movers' Bill 336-B (2) (3) (4) omitted as out of scope.
The committee also briefed on working women hostel by the Secretary of Ministry of Women Development. She told the committee that 2.5 million have been sanctioned to the CDA for the maintenance of the hostel. Keeping in view the current status of the hostels which is not very much in shape, the standing committee took serious note regarding the briefing given by the secretary and also asked the members of the committee to look into the matter of illegal occupants in the hostel.
For this purpose, Chairperson Bushra Gohar constituted a sub-committee of two members: convenor Shaheen Ishfaque and Fouzia Ejaz Khan, member. The sub-committee will examine the condition of the hostel, requirements of maintenance, illegal occupants and revise the rents of the hostels and submit its report to the committee. MNAs, Qudsia Arshad, Fouzia Ejaz Khan, Mrs Nisar Tanveer and Shaheen Ishfaq and Mover, Marvi Memon and other officers/officials from Ministry of Women Development and Ministry of Law & Justice attended the meeting.