By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan declared acid attacks a graver crime than homicide in a landmark ruling on Monday, calling on federal and provincial governments to establish a national rehabilitation fund for survivors, impose sweeping restrictions on the sale of corrosive substances and extend disability protections to victims of what the court described as an assault on the soul as much as the body.
The judgment, authored by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and delivered by a three-judge bench, upheld the life imprisonment sentence of Abdul Manan, who was convicted of dousing a young woman with sulphuric acid at her home in Faisalabad in 2019, leaving her bedridden and disfigured. Manan had appealed against a November 2022 ruling by the Lahore High Court, which had itself upheld the Anti-Terrorism Court verdict sentencing him to life imprisonment and a fine of one million rupees.
The ruling lands days after a separate acid attack on a 29-year-old doctor, Mahnoor Nasir, at a civil hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta, an assault that triggered a strike by doctors demanding a thorough investigation.
“Unlike death, which consumes its victim only once, the victim of an acid assault is relegated to a living death, where they are compelled to endure the agony of their trauma and the degradation of their physical self on a daily basis,” Justice Kakar wrote in the 14-page judgment.
A TOOL OF PATRIARCHAL DOMINANCE
The court characterised acid violence as an instrument of gender-based subjugation, linking its use historically to the rejection of marriage proposals, rebuffed sexual advances and dowry disputes. “The perpetrator’s objective is not merely to kill, but to extinguish the victim’s soul, leaving the living corpse as a permanent reminder of their depravity,” Justice Kakar wrote.
Citing the Asian Human Rights Commission, the judgment pointed to survivors Irum Saeed and Memuna Khan as emblematic of the devastation wrought by such attacks. The two women had undergone 25 and 21 reconstructive surgeries respectively following attacks rooted in marital rejection and family disputes.
“Vitriolage is an offence deeply rooted in gender-based violence, deep-seated misogyny and patriarchal aggression,” the judgment stated, using the legal term for acid attacks. Survivors, it noted, were frequently subjected to exhaustive series of surgeries and specialised procedures that were not only physically agonising but also financially prohibitive, placing essential healthcare beyond the reach of most victims.
CALLS FOR A NATIONAL FUND AND DISABILITY QUOTAS
In a series of far-reaching recommendations directed at both federal and all four provincial governments, the court called for the creation of a statutory National Acid Survivors’ Rehabilitation Fund to provide comprehensive medical coverage for reconstructive surgeries, specialised physical therapy, trauma counselling, psychotherapy and psychiatric care. The fund should also guarantee a mandatory monthly stipend for survivors rendered incapable of supporting themselves financially as a result of their injuries, the court said.
The judgment further recommended that acid attack survivors be accommodated under existing government disability quotas for employment, and called for the formulation of national rehabilitation guidelines to ensure free, lifelong medical and mental health treatment across all state-mandated and private medical facilities.
RESTRICTING ACCESS TO ACID
Justice Kakar argued that deterrence required a two-pronged approach: rigorous criminalisation of the act and stringent control over access to corrosive substances. “As long as corrosive substances remain easily available, the deterrent effect of penal consequences will be perpetually undermined,” he wrote, drawing on regulatory models from Bangladesh and Cambodia.
While legislative amendments in 2011 had criminalised acid violence with the severity it warranted, the persistence of such attacks showed that penal sanctions alone were insufficient, the court found.
The judgment singled out the Punjab Acid Control Act of 2025 as a watershed moment, praising its licensing regime and its prohibition on the sale of acid to anyone under 18 as a shift from punishment after the fact to pre-emptive regulation.
The apex court recommended that all governments impose a complete ban on acid sales to private individuals and establish a centralised digital system, monitored by authorities in real time, for any legitimate commercial transactions. Under the proposed framework, buyers would be required to submit electronic applications disclosing the purpose of purchase along with personal details, a photograph and a biometric thumb impression. “Such a real-time system will completely eradicate manual record-keeping and enable the trade to be managed with absolute transparency,” the court said.
THE CASE
On the evening of September 4, 2019, Abdul Manan threw sulphuric acid at the victim while she was cooking in the kitchen of her home in Faisalabad. She sustained extensive burns to her face, chest, back, left leg and foot, along with what court documents described as the complete destruction of her left ear. When examined during trial proceedings in January 2020, she was unable to recline, move or walk. She has remained bedridden since the attack.
Manan denied the allegations but offered no evidence in his defence. He was aged 17 to 18 at the time of the attack. His defence counsel sought leniency on account of his youth, an argument the prosecution rejected. “Age cannot be a shield for such barbaric acts,” the state’s lawyer told the court.
The Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad sentenced Manan to life imprisonment on February 1, 2020. The Lahore High Court upheld that sentence on November 21, 2022. The Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday closes the final avenue of appeal.
The judgment was forwarded to all high courts and relevant federal and provincial government departments. The Supreme Court also urged high courts to actively monitor acid attack cases and ensure that statutory timelines for completing trials were strictly observed, warning that delays risked inflicting secondary victimisation on survivors.
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