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42. Today, world is suffering from the menace of acid attack. Number of countries are fighting against this menace across the globe. The study conducted by United Nations Children's Fund depicts "Acid attack is a serious problem all over the world, even children are victims of acid attack in many cases. In an Acid attack, acid is thrown at the face or body of the victim with deliberate intent to burn and disfigure. Most of the victims are girls, many below the age of 18, who have rejected sexual advances or marriage proposals. Acid attack or vitriolage act of throwing acid onto the body of a person "with the intention of injuring or disfiguring out of jealousy or revenge". The most common types of acid utilized in these assaults include sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acid. Attack through acid rarely kills but it causes severe physical, psychological and social scarring. The victims of acid violence are overwhelmingly women and children, and attackers often target the head and face in order to maim, disfigure and blind a person for life and push her in everlasting life of pain and apathy."

48. How to appreciate a case in respect of incident where acid attack has taken place, was subject matter of the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Laxmi -vs- Union of India and Others reported in (2014)4 SCC 427, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has set out series of guidelines at paragraphs 7, 8, 9 to 9.6, 11 and 15 which read as under:

7. In our opinion, all the States and Union Territories which have not yet framed rules will do well to make rules to regulate sale of acid and other corrosive substances in line with the Model Rules framed by the Central Government. The States, which have framed rules but these rules are not as stringent as the Model Rules framed by the Central Government will make necessary amendments in their rules to bring them in line with the Model Rules. The Chief Secretaries of the respective States and the Administrators of the Union Territories shall ensure compliance with the above expeditiously and in no case later than three months from the receipt of the draft Model Rules from the Central Government.

49. The Hon'ble supreme Court while considering the provisions of Section 302, 326A and 460 of IPC, in a case of death of women due to acid attack, converted death sentence in to life imprisonment in the case of Yogendra alias Jogendra Singh vs. State of Madhya Pradesh reported in (2019) 9 SCC 243 at paragraph Nos.13 and 15 held as under:

13. In the case before us, the incident is related to the appellant being disappointed in his relation with the deceased who he believed deserted him. The circumstance of the case and particularly the choice of acid do not disclose a cold-blooded plan to murder the deceased. Like in many cases the intention seems to have been to severely injure or disfigure the deceased; in this case we think the intention resulted into an attack more severe than planned which then resulted in the death of the deceased. It is possible that what was premeditated was an injury and not death.

"20(2) No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once."

56. In the case on hand, when accused is tried for specific offence carved out under the Indian Penal Code for the offence of acid attack, trial Court resorted to Section 307 of IPC, having regard to gravity of offence especially after effects of the acid attack cases discussed supra. The Legislature in its wisdom carved out a separate and distinct offence punishable under Section 326A of IPC., for an action wherein the acid is used as a weapon for attacking the innocent, as is referred to supra and prescribed suitable punishment. Therefore, the action of the accused can be traced to and punished only under Section 326A of IPC and the said action of the accused cannot be tried and punished under Section 307 of IPC along with Section 326A of IPC.