Politics · India · 4 hrs ago
India's Supreme Court urges tighter controls on acid sales
India's Supreme Court urged the central government to rethink how it prevents acid attacks.
The attacks, which mostly target women, can cause lifelong physical and mental harm.
The government has issued guidelines for states to follow, but the Court said rising attacks show they have failed.
It called for heavily regulating acid sales in open markets, questioning why acid needs to be sold for household use when substitutes are available.
The Court said the guidelines may have loopholes or may not be properly enforced, and asked whether states had been questioned about lax enforcement.
The Centre is expected to file an affidavit on regulating acid sales and steps states should take to prevent attacks.
India’s Supreme Court urged the government to tighten controls on retail acid sales to help prevent acid attacks.
The court said existing guidelines had failed, citing increasing incidents of attacks.
It asked why acid should be sold in the open market, saying better household substitutes were available.
The government said it had issued guidelines to states but acknowledged laxity in enforcement.
The government told the court it would file an affidavit on regulated sales and steps states should take to prevent attacks.
- Who
- India’s Supreme Court and the central government.
- What
- The court urged tighter regulation of open-market acid sales and a review of existing prevention guidelines.
- When
- Tuesday; the article was published on 27 October 2026.
- Where
- New Delhi.
- Why
- The court said acid attacks were increasing and existing guidelines had failed to prevent them.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The government framed guidelines and circulated them among states for implementation.
The Supreme Court questioned the government about rising acid attacks and urged it to revisit the guidelines and regulate retail acid sales.
The government told the court it would file an affidavit on regulated sales and steps states should take to prevent attacks.
- Court
- India’s Supreme Court
- Government representative
- Additional solicitor general Archana Pathak Dave
- Guidelines
- Framed by the government and circulated among states
- Proposed filing
- An affidavit on regulated acid sales and steps for states to prevent attacks
- Published
- 27 October 2026
What people are saying
Why should acid be sold in the open market? What is the compulsion of govts to allow such sales? It is no longer needed in the households because of availability of better substitutes
The increasing incidents of acid attack indicates the guidelines have failed miserably