Unwanted staring at the workplace?

The guy also has contacted HR so there maybe two sides to the issue.

It is not America. People stare at everyone in India. When in Rome do as the Romans do.

Magazine | July 20, 2009

ANDHRA: CRIMES
Burns Ward
With acid attacks on the rise again, Andhra mulls stringent laws

Venugopal Pillai

Guntur's Shame

* July 2: Man throws acid on his wife and two-year-old daughter
* June 27: Elderly woman attacked by a close relative over a property dispute at Piduguralla
* June 24: HIV patient throws acid on wife for refusing to sleep with him in Nizampeth
* June 17: A man hurls acid at a neighbour for spurning his sexual overtures
* June 17: An autorickshaw driver attacks his paramour over a quarrel

***
O n December 13, 2008, an acid attack on two female engineering students in Warangal sent shockwaves across the state. One of the students finally died of acid burns in a Hyderabad hospital on December 30. Her friend, T. Praneetha, survived but is still to get over the shock. The case was compounded by a police goof-up in the beginning, and later, as if to make up for it, the three accused young men were gunned down in an 'encounter' outside town within hours of being arrested. The vigilante style killing even made the resident top cop a hero for a while.

Women protest the Warangal acid attack

Now, six months after Warangal, a spate of acid attacks in Guntur district has once again brought the issue on to the front pages. The district has seen five attacks in the last fortnight. The Andhra Pradesh government is now considering a legislation on the lines of a draft bill proposed by the Centre on acid attackers. "We are sending recommendations to the Union government on the proposed draft bill," state home minister Sabitha Reddy told Outlook. The bill proposes to amend Section 326 of the IPC with inclusion of a sub-clause which will ensure a minimum punishment of seven years. The present Section 326, which deals with causing grievous injury, lacks the provision and does not specify a minimum punishment.

Another suggestion pertains to the trial of the guilty. The state wants the cases to be tried in a sessions court (rather than before a metropolitan magistrate) and with inclusion of a clause under the Indian Evidence Act, so that the burden of proving innocence is on the accused. The home minister says that "along with speedy trial, the state has also suggested that victims of acid attacks be paid compensation by the accused for treatment. As it is, the costs incurred in treating acid burns is too high...." She also wants the "perpetrators", mostly youth or students, to be immediately rusticated from their respective institutions for not less than three years.

The victims themselves would like to have their side heard too. Anuradha was a BSc Agriculture student in 1997 when a male student threw acid on her. She lost her left eye in the attack and has since undergone 20 surgeries. She says the victim's statement should be taken into account while punishing the guilty as attacks happen mainly in secluded places and witnesses are hard to come by. Even if it takes place in public, people rarely come forward to testify.

"There should be a separate law for acid attack cases...delinked from any other Act," says Anuradha, who now works as a biotechnologist. She points out that it's not the victim alone who suffers, but the entire family. On the treatment expenses front, Anuradha appreciated the present government's efforts in helping victims financially.

Sumitra, a social worker with NGO Ankuram, says "there's no dearth of effective laws, but there's no proper implementation". She's hoping the proposed legislation will close the loopholes and help control crimes against women."Domestic violence, gangrapes, trafficking of women and children, acid attacks, sexual harassment at the workplace, dowry harassment and deaths, child abuse and sexual exploitation...they are becoming the order of the day, not only in Andhra, but elsewhere," she says.

Ram Mohan, convenor of HELP, an NGO in Guntur district, goes a bit further. He wants the sale and purchase of acid in the state to be regulated. "Despite the crimes and the chemical's obvious harmful effects, acid is sold freely over the counter even in rural areas," he says. As things stand, in Guntur, at least, some regulation may not be a bad idea.

NCW pushes for law against acid attacks on women

With the death of K Swapnika, victim of an acid attack, on December 30, the need for a special law to deal with this terrible crime becomes urgent

An acid attack, allegedly by a spurned lover, claimed yet another life on December 30, 2008, as 21-year-old engineering student K Swapnika succumbed to her injuries in a Hyderabad hospital.

On December 10, 2008, Swapnika and her friend T Praneetha, who was riding pillion, had acid thrown on them by three men, one of whom was in love with Swapnika. The three youths were picked up by the police, let out on bail, and subsequently shot in an “encounter” when they took the police to the spot where they had hidden the acid and some weapons. According to police reports, they attacked the police during the search.

Acid attacks on women are common in India, which does not have a specific law to deal with such incidents. Every year, women are killed, maimed, blinded or scarred for life for rejecting suitors, refusing to have sex, defying custom, or becoming victims of family feuds and land disputes.

A 20-year-old tailor in Delhi’s Model Town area threw acid on two teenage sisters. The tailor wanted to marry the younger sister but the girl’s mother told him that her elder daughter had to be married off first. Angered by the delay, he threw acid on both sisters -- apparently to teach them and their mother a lesson.

In a famous case, the Campaign and Struggle Against Acid Attacks on Women (CSAAAW) helped Hasina Hussain get justice after her ex-boss Joseph Rodrigues poured 1.5 litres of sulphuric acid on her when she quit her job in his company, in 1999. The acid melted her face, fused her shoulder and neck, burnt a hole in her head, merged her fingers and blinded her for life. In 2006, the Karnataka High Court sentenced Rodrigues to life imprisonment.

The Union government’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not have separate figures for the number of acid victims but it is estimated that at least 100 women are subjected to acid attacks in India every year. CSAAAW has compiled a list of 65 cases in Karnataka alone, between 1999 and 2008.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) is pushing for a specific law to deal with such cases. It has come up with a draft of the Prevention of Offences (by Acids) Act, 2008, which is with the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development for vetting. After its approval, the Bill will be sent to the law ministry before it is tabled in Parliament to be passed as law.

One of the problems with this type of crime, like several other crimes against women, is that the police do not take strong enough action when complaints are registered. Swapnika’s father had lodged a complaint against the chief accused, S Srinivas Rao, for vandalising his motorcycle two months before the attack on Swapnika took place. Women activists also want the easy availability of acid to be curbed.

Source: www.ndtv.com, December 31, 2008
www.rediff.com, December 31, 2008
Daily Excelsior, December 2008

Gulp.

Spotted him. Phoned the HR woman. We had a mini chat in the conference room with him. His HR man was also present.

Gulp.

Will elaborate when I'm back home.

NCW pushes for law against acid attacks on women

...he was staring at me to the point of making me uncomfortable.