Bangladesh acid attackers may face death

Aid groups say women are generally the targets of acid attacks because they refused offers of love or did not submit to affairs

DHAKA, Bangladesh -- Alarmed by a growing spate of acid attacks targeting young women, the Bangladeshi government has proposed introducing a maximum penalty of death for offenders.

A recent survey has shown that almost 250 people, mostly women, were severely burnt in corrosive acid attacks last year compared with 200 the previous year.

Women's rights groups argue that existing laws that provide for life imprisonment for crimes against women were not used effectively.

Under pressure from rights groups, the government introduced two laws on Monday during a meeting of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia's cabinet -- one to curb the sale of dangerous acids, and the other specifically outlawing their use against women.

"Acid-throwing, a heinous crime, should be stopped for ever by implementing strict punishment for the offenders," Reuters quoted the prime minister as saying.

The laws need to be passed by parliament before they can be introduced.

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Women are generally the targets of acid attacks and most were victimized because they refused offers of love or did not submit to affairs, women's rights groups say.

"Killing and defacing of young, beautiful girls are just one of many life-threatening problems women face in Bangladesh," Salma Ali of the Bangladesh Acid Survivors Foundation told Reuters.

One plastic surgeon at a Dhaka hospital said he was seeing up to three acid victims every week in recent months.

However, aid groups say not every victim is not able to travel to the capital from remote rural areas where cases of acid throwing are rising alarmingly.

Officials from the Bangladesh Acid Survivors Foundation say that most culprits get away with their crimes. They say they doubt the new legislation would prove more effective if it is introduced.

Instead, they have called for the police administration and legal systems to be reformed.

According to police officials only 10 percent of offenders are arrested and fewer cases come to trial.