Gender-Based Acid Violence In India: A Socio-Psychological Analysis of Emerging Trends

Abstract

Gender-based acid violence represents one of the most severe forms of interpersonal aggression because it combines physical injury with an intention to disfigure, intimidate, punish and socially marginalise the victim. Although acid attacks may affect persons of any gender, the Indian experience demonstrates a significant gendered dimension in which women and girls are frequently targeted in circumstances involving rejection of romantic or marriage proposals, stalking, domestic conflict, dowry disputes, sexual harassment, jealousy and assertions of female autonomy. The phenomenon cannot therefore be adequately understood exclusively through criminal law. It requires a socio-psychological analysis of patriarchal entitlement, gender socialisation, rejection sensitivity, possessiveness, distorted masculinity, retaliatory aggression, social stigma and institutional responses.

The contemporary statistical pattern also requires careful interpretation. Official data do not demonstrate a continuous year-to-year increase; instead, acid violence against women shows persistence and fluctuation. NCRB-linked data indicate 148 reported acid attacks against women in 2017, 150 in 2019, 105 in 2020, 102 in 2021, 124 in 2022 and 113 cases involving 122 women victims in 2023. Thus, the emerging concern lies not merely in numerical growth but in the continuing occurrence of an exceptionally destructive offence despite specific penal provisions and restrictions on acid sale.

This article examines the historical evolution, contemporary trends, socio-psychological causes and multidimensional consequences of acid violence against women in India. It evaluates the transformation of the legal regime from the Indian Penal Code to Section 124 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, together with victim compensation, free medical treatment, disability rights and acid-sale regulation. Comparative experiences from Bangladesh and the United Kingdom are examined to identify preventive lessons. The article argues that sustainable prevention requires an integrated model combining criminal accountability, regulation of corrosive substances, psychological intervention, gender-sensitive education, survivor rehabilitation, economic empowerment and transformation of social attitudes.