New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) The Delhi High Court Tuesday upheld the life term awarded by a lower court to a man for throwing acid on a woman who had rejected his marriage proposal, blinding her in both eyes.
A division bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Suresh Kait upheld the life imprisonment of Yashpal alias Mukesh, who had thrown acid on the face of Renu Feb 15, 2006, after she rejected his proposal.

“Burning of girls with acid on account of the girls resisting the lecherous advances of street Romeos is increasing by the day. It is time that such acts are rewarded with commensurate punishment,” the court observed.

Upholding the trial court’s order in 2007, the bench said: “Poor Renu, she has to live her life with an ugly face and deprived of the joys of life. She cannot enjoy the beauty of nature. She has been rendered totally blind. Under the circumstances we find no infirmity in the discretion exercised by the trial court to inflict the highest possible sentence for the offence…After all, it is the duty of a court to pay heed to the society’s cry for justice.”

“Renu had not only been facially disfigured but had lost vision in both eyes and was unable to see,” the court observed.

Opposing Mukesh’s contention that he was falsely implicated in the case, the court said: “We would be failing not to note that the burn injuries on the face and the wrist of the appellant are fairly superficial. If he was the target as claimed by him, we fail to understand as to how he received fairly simple and superficial acid burn injuries and Renu received such grievous injuries.”

“The acid burn injuries on the right wrist of the appellant are suggestive of the fact that he had the container with acid held on by the right hand and when he jerked the hand while using the wrist to throw acid on Renu, some splashes fell on his wrist.”