DCW seeks response from Amazon, Flipkart on easy availability of acid on online
Dec 15, 2022
New Delhi [India], December 15 : The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) on Thursday wrote to the chief executive officers of Amazon and Flipkart in connection with the acid attack on a 17-year-old girl in Dwarka and sought the "reason for the easy availability of acid on the e-shopping platforms".
The DCW also expressed concerns over the "illegal" availability of acid on Amazon and Flipkart and said that it "needs to be checked urgently".
A 17-year-old girl was allegedly attacked with acid by two bike-borne men in Delhi's Dwarka district area, police said on Wednesday. The girl has been referred to Safdarjung Hospital and is currently undergoing treatment.
"The Commission has learnt that the accused person had bought acid through the online shopping portal 'Flipkart'. The Commission has also learnt that acid is easily available on leading online shopping platforms such as 'Amazon' and 'Flipkart' which is illegal. The ease of availability of acid on online platforms is a matter of grave concern and needs to be checked urgently," the letter signed by the Chairperson of the DCW read.
The Commission further sought the details of sellers who have placed 'acid' as a product on the two platforms.
"Please inform the reason for the availability of acid on the e-shopping platforms. Please provide complete details of sellers who have placed 'acid' as a product on your platform. Whether license of the seller was checked before posting the acid product on the online platform? If not, please provide reasons for the same. Whether photo IDs of those purchasing acid online were sought? If yes, please provide a complete list of the purchasers along with their photo IDs. If no, please provide reasons for the same," the letter stated.
It also sought a copy of the license obtained by the platform for selling acid online.
"Please provide a copy of the policy adopted by the platform regarding sale of government-regulated products online. If there is no policy, please provide reason for the same. Please inform the steps taken for removing restricted items including acid from the online portal," it read.
"Please provide details of persons responsible for allowing sale of acid on the portal along with details of action taken against them," the letter added.
The Commission also sought a detailed report of the action taken in the matter.
Delhi Police has arrested all three accused for allegedly throwing acid at a 17-year-old girl in the national capital's Dwarka.
Dwarka DCP M Harshvardhan on Wednesday said that the police has solved the case with the arrest of all three accused.
The police, earlier, detained one person in the case after the victim raised suspicion over two people known to her. Later, another boy emerged as a prime suspect in the acid attack incident on a minor girl in Delhi, the Dwarka DCP said on Wednesday.
According to police, a PCR call was received regarding the incident of throwing acid on a girl in the Police Station Mohan Garden area.
It was stated that a girl was allegedly attacked using some acid-like substance by two persons on a bike around 7:30 am this morning, police said.
"The girl was with her younger sister at the time of the incident. She has raised suspicion over two persons known to them. One person has been detained and further investigation is going on," Delhi Police said.
The father of the victim said, "My two daughters were going to school at 7:29 am, but later around 7:35 am my younger daughter returned home and told me that two boys have thrown acid on her elder sister. The accused had their face covered which can be seen in a CCTV footage."
Her condition is not good and we are very worried. We have spoken to the police, the father added.
The mother of the victim said, "My younger daughter came rushing and told me that acid was thrown at her elder sister. Her condition is not good."
