Aarohi, a twenty-year-old girl, belonging to a lower middle-class family, was pursuing her

studies in Chartered Accountancy in the City of Leebay. Her father used to work as a clerk in
a private firm and her mother was a housewife. She had always been a very bright and
ambitious student. To support her father, she used to take tuitions for school students.
Akshay, her Accounts teacher, secretly developed emotions for Aarohi. She had great
admiration and respect for Akshay as her teacher. On Aarohi’s birthday, Akshay organized a
party, when he gifted her an expensive watch. Unaware of his feelings, Aarohi accepted the
same.

On 11th January 2013 Akshay approached Aarohi’s parents and asked for her hand in
marriage. However, they rejected the offer and warned him not to contact her henceforth, as
they did not approve of him since he was her teacher. They warned Aarohi not to meet
Akshay. Thereafter, she started avoiding Akshay. On one occasion Aarohi also made it clear
to Akshay that she will not go against her parents’ wishes and asked him not to follow her
anymore. Despite the warning, Akshay continued to follow her and tried to contact her
personally, through the phone and the internet. He believed that Aarohi was avoiding him
because she was pressurized into doing so.
Aarohi reported the same to her parents. Her parents gave an ultimatum to Akshay that if he
continued to repeat the unwarranted acts committed by him then they would be forced to take
sterner action against him. But, despite the warnings, Akshay continued to harass her and her
parents by continuously asking their daughter’s hand in marriage.

Enraged with the feeling of constant rejection, Akshay went to Harish and confided in him
the entire situation that transpired between him and Aarohi’s parents. Harish, aged 52, had
always treated Akshay as his son, ever since Akshay’s parents died in a car accident in 2005.

After Harish heard the entire situation, he could visualize the extent of attachment that
Akshay had for Aarohi and felt that he was depressed. So, he suggested that he should find
Aarohi alone and take her to the temple and marry her without informing Aarohi’s parents. If
Aarohi resisted from getting married to Akshay, Harish would threaten her with a bottle of
acid to pressurize her to get married to Akshay. Akshay, who was reluctant initially, agreed to
the plan on the condition that no harm will be caused to Aarohi and the bottle of acid will
only be used as a tool to threaten her for compliance to their wishes. On 3rd April, 2013 as
per the plan, Akshay and Harish found Aarohi walking alone on the road. On seeing her
alone, they decided to get out of their car. Akshay approached her and asked her to
accompany him to the temple so that they could get married. On Aarohi’s resistance, Harish
decided to threaten her with the bottle of acid. Akshay started dragging her towards their car.
When Aarohi started screaming for help, in the moment of panic, Akshay opened the bottle
and threw the acid on her face. Harish and Akshay ran away from the scene in their car and
left Aarohi writhing in immense pain. She was taken to the hospital by some passerby.

The doctors immediately conducted the surgeries on her as the injuries were severe in nature.
A First Information Report was lodged and the statement of Aarohi was recorded. A case was
registered against Akshay and Harish under section 326A r/w 120B of the Nyaysthan Penal
Code (NPC), 1860 and Akshay was also charged with 354D of the NPC. Akshay absconded
and was declared as a proclaimed offender while Harish was arrested by police from his
home and the bottle of acid and the car, used in the commission of crime, were seized from
his possession. After investigation he was put to trial before the Sessions Court, where he
pleaded not guilty and claimed for a trial. Bail was rejected and Harish was in Judicial
Custody during the entire trial.

Session Court, in July 2019 convicted Harish under section 326A r/w 120B of Nyaysthan
Penal Code, 1860 and sentenced him to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment and ordered that
the period of imprisonment undergone during the trial shall be included in the punishment
and was also ordered to pay compensation to Aarohi to a tune of Rs. 3,00,000/- to be paid
immediately. In the meantime, there was an increase in the number of acid attack incidents.

Harish being aggrieved by the judgment preferred an appeal to the Leebay High Court in
August 2019 seeking acquittal on the ground that it was Akshay who threw acid on Aarohi.
The Leebay High Court upheld the conviction of Harish but reduced the punishment from 15
years to 10 years, Aarohi felt betrayed by the legal system. Aarohi had permanently lost her
eyesight. There were permanent scars on her face and hands. This made a permanent scar on
her mind. Being dejected by the Leebay High Court order, Aarohi committed suicide.

This led to an uproar in the Public and in the Media. Many Women’s rights Organization
were outraged across the country. Many candle marches and protests started taking place all
over the country. The National Commission for Women came forward and filed a Special
Leave Petition before the Supreme Court of Nyaysthan contending that the offence was of a
very heinous nature and thus prayed for life imprisonment of Harish. The Supreme Court has
kept the matter at the stage of admission on 15th & 16th February 2020.