Applying Socioecological Framework to Acid Attack Violence: An Exploration of Inhabitant Factors

Spectrum of vitriolage in India: A retrospective data record-based study

Introduction

Vitriolage or acid attack or acid throwing is a gender-based terrible violent crime. There are many everlasting sequels of vitriolage which consist of permanent scarring of the face or body, blindness as well as socioeconomic and psychological intricacy. The sufferer of acid attack is competitor, hatred, enmity or jealousy. Vitriolage are most common in the Asian countries especially in south east Asian region followed by Europe and South America. Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Colombia and Cambodia are the countries having the highest incidence of acid attacks. There is a sharp rise in vitriolage cases in India in the last few years as indicated by data from the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). Seventy per cent victims of vitriolage are women in India as indicated by the annual reports of the Acid Survivor Foundation.

Aims and Objective

The aim of the study was to report incidence of acid attacks in India, Indian states and metropolitan cities. To analyse various police and court procedure and to discuss various steps to give justice to the victim of vitriolage.

Materials and Methods

Present study is a retrospective data record-based study. Available data for the last 5 years (from 2017 to 2021) were taken from National Crime Report Bureau (NCRB). Available as per NCRB, data were analysed as per aims and objectives.

Results

The trend of incidence of acid attacks in India was decreasing in the last 5 years, that is, the incidence was 244 in the year 2017 which become 176 in the year 2021. West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh were the states having the highest number of acid attack incidence during the last 5 years. Delhi city was the top most metropolitan city having the highest acid attack incidence in the last 5 years. Police investigation of cases of acid attacks against women and cases disposed of by the police decreased in the last 5 years. The chargesheeting rate was better in metropolitan cities than overall chargesheeting in India. There was an increased trial of cases of acid attacks against women and a decrease in cases disposed of by the court during the last 5 years. Conviction rate by the court was better in India than the metropolitan cities of India during the last 5 years. Case acquitted by the court in India was 24, 9, 10, 4 and 10, and in metropolitan cities it was 2, 1, 3, 0 and 2 during year 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, respectively.

Conclusion

Vitriolage not only destroys physical health but also destroys mental health. Despite of strict action taken by the Indian government, vitriolage is still prevalent in India. Male dominancy and inadequate legal systems are responsible for this. Though there is a standard set by the Supreme Court for the sale of acid, it remains easily available as the guidelines are frequently violated by the preparator. Case investigation and chargesheeting should increase by the police. Trial of the case and conviction should increase by the court. Vitriolage victims must be sure of their scope to obtain education and job opportunity and societal fiction should be reviewed to support people to acknowledge why vitriolage is committed mainly against females.

A Medical-Legal and Psychological Systematic Review on Vitriolage Related to Gender-Based Violence

Attacks perpetrated using acid are a particular form of interpersonal violence, possibly one of the most heinous manifestations of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Acid attacks are mainly motivated by extramarital cheating, marital conflicts, women's rejection of marriage proposals, and sexual advances. As these attacks are not well understood from a psychological perspective, we conducted a systematic review, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, of 284 articles identified, 13 were eligible for inclusion. Three main focuses were identified: "Risk and vulnerability factors," "Consequences and implications," and "Interventions and treatments." Acid attacks seem to be more frequent in countries where social and economic development leads to greater tensions over traditional gender roles like Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. Identified risk factors were young age, low socioeconomic status, low educational attainment, ethnicity, unemployment status of the victim, alcohol, and drug use of the perpetrator. Among the main psychosocial consequences of acid attacks, isolation and social exclusion emerged. Additionally, the paper will discuss the role of mental health consequences and specific treatments from psychological, clinical, and medical-legal points of view.

A Phenomenological Analysis of Adoption of Coping Strategies Among Survivors of Acid Violence in Pakistan

The primary objective of the current study was to explore the adoption of different coping strategies among survivors of acid violence in Pakistan. The data were collected from survivors of acid violence till saturation point was reached with the help of four key informants through a semi-structured interview guide from March, 2019 to June, 2019. Survivors who have lived with at least six months of acid violence were included in the current study. The researchers faced difficulty in recruitment of survivors as survivors usually choose to remain anonymous due to the social stigma attached with acid violence widespread in the society. Ethical considerations were also taken into account. The data were transcribed and in analysis the emerged themes were then classified into different coping strategies in the existing body of knowledge. The researchers used descriptive phenomenology to explain the lived experiences of survivors of acid violence. The patriarchy theory served as the theoretical foundation for the current study. The survivors of acid violence used coping strategies according to their abilities and availability. The victims of acid violence adopted the problem-focused coping strategies such as support seeking (e.g., talking to family and friends, appreciation and support of children), cognitive decision-making (e.g., accepting a new identity, busy routine, confidence), direct problem solving, (e.g., covering with a scarf, avoiding sun exposure), and avoidant action (e.g., limited social interaction). In addition, they used emotion-focused coping (such as cringing in loneliness, yelling at others, withholding feelings) and religious-spiritual coping (such as asking for forgiveness, offering prayers). In revenge, males have disfigured females' faces and bodies (presumable physical assets) but could not subjugate their resilience and power to survive (psychological assets) even in the oppression of patriarchy. In originality, it was the first study to explore the adoption of coping strategies among the survivors of acid violence in Pakistan.

Knowledge discovery in research on domestic violence: an overview of the last fifty years

Purpose

The database of the Web of Science (WoS) was searched for publications from January 1945–May 7, 2020 on the topic of domestic violence in titles, abstracts and keywords. The references were analyzed using the R bibliometrix package, and abstracts were analyzed using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) with collapsed Gibbs sampling to obtain topics related to domestic violence.

Design/methodology/approach

The aim of the study is to explore and provide an overview of research carried out on domestic violence, in its various aspects, over the past fifty years.

Findings

As a result of the research, the authors can assert that in the last fifty years, 32,298 authors have produced 19,495 documents on the theme of policing strategy and related subjects in 111 countries. Scientific production in this area grows at a rate of 12.81 per year. The United States of America is the leading country in publications with 48.14%, followed by the United Kingdom with 7.57% and Australia with 6.05%. Regarding universities, the highlight is the University of California with 664 publications, followed by the University of London with 515 and the University of North Carolina with 484. As for journals, the highlight is the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, Journal of Family Violence and Violence Against Women, which account for more than 14.32% of all indexed literature. Regarding the authors, the highlight is Campbell J.C and Feder G. Probabilistic topic modeling revealed that 18% of the topics concentrate 90% of all tokens. Topic 1 accounts for 27.9% of the sample and conducts research related to intimate partner violence.

Practical implications

As a practical implication of using the LDA in the bibliographic review, we infer that its capacity to explore large masses of data allows the researcher to explore an infinitely greater amount than the traditional methods of systematic literature review.

Originality/value

The value of these studies is summarized in the presentation of an overview on the theme in the last fifty years, offering the opportunity for other researchers to use this research as a starting point for other analyses.