Acid attacks in Bangladesh fall for second year

DHAKA - The number of acid attacks recorded in Bangladesh has fallen for the second year running, a report said Friday, although there were still 322 cases in 2004.
Annual figures compiled by the Acid Survivors` Foundation showed the attacks dropped from 410 in 2003 and 485 in 2002, the private UNB agency said.
Nearly half the attacks -- 45 percent -- were motivated by property disputes. Sixteen percent were by spurned suitors trying to disfigure women who had rejected them.
Last March, the government approved draft proposals to regulate the storage, transportation and sale of acid after two previous laws failed to stem the rise in attacks.
Acid-throwing cases are heard in Bangladesh by special fast-track courts empowered to pass the death penalty.
According to the foundation, more than 2,000 people have been attacked with acid since May 1999. Victims include an 18-month-old baby and a four-year-old child who both died of their injuries.

04/29/2005 06:52 GMT