Sapana Tamang (name changed) of Makawanpur came to Kathmandu a decade ago in search of work and a better life. She found a job at a carpet factory and, for a while, life unfolded as she had hoped. She earned an income, enjoyed her independence and regularly sent money home to support her family.

But her life changed abruptly after she became the target of a male co-worker.

He first proposed a romantic relationship, which she rejected. He later asked her to marry him, and she refused again. According to Tamang, those repeated rejections were followed by months of physical and psychological abuse.

“One day, as I was trying to run away, he poured kerosene over my body,” she recalled. “Then I caught fire. I don't know whether he used a matchstick or a lighter because I never saw it. When I regained consciousness, I was in hospital. My whole body felt like it was burning. I had suffered severe burn injuries.”

According to Sapana, the perpetrator stayed with her in the hospital for nearly four months after the incident before disappearing. He remains at large. She still receives treatment with the support of a non-governmental organisation.

More than a decade has passed since the attack, but her treatment is still far from over.

Since 2014, she has undergone continuous medical care, including multiple skin graft surgeries, in which healthy skin is transplanted to burned or damaged areas, and contracture release procedures to restore movement by releasing skin that had tightened after the burns.

Some surgeries have healed parts of her body, but other wounds still require treatment. Alongside the scars covering her body, she continues to live with deep psychological trauma. Years of travelling to hospitals for treatment have also drained her financially. For that lengthy medical care, she has received neither reimbursement of the costs incurred nor any form of compensation.

In her search for justice, Sapana has knocked on the doors of police offices, courts and government agencies. But, she said, she has repeatedly been asked the same question: “Where is the evidence?”

Although her body bears extensive burn scars and other injuries, she said authorities continue to demand proof that she was deliberately attacked.

“My body is covered in burns. I have injuries. I have been receiving treatment for years. Aren't my injuries proof enough?” she asked. “Even now, they tell me to bring proof that someone set me alight. In my situation, what greater evidence could there possibly be?”

She believes she has been denied justice because Nepal has no law dealing specifically with burn violence.

“When someone is burned, the suffering is not only physical. The mental trauma is unbearable, too,” she said. “Treatment costs millions of rupees. But the state provides neither treatment expenses nor compensation. There should be a law specifically addressing crimes involving burn injuries, with punishments that reflect the seriousness of the offence. The law should also guarantee treatment and compensation for survivors.”

Mangala Puri (name changed) knows that struggle all too well.

She was just 14 years old when she became the victim of an acid attack 12 years ago. The acid severely burned her face, neck and chest.

More than a decade later, she says the fight for justice remains impossible to forget.

After the attack, she found herself battling for medical treatment and legal justice at the same time. The perpetrator was not prosecuted under a law specifically covering acid attacks. Instead, he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison along with a fine of Rs100,000.

The man has now completed his sentence and been released from prison.

She believes those responsible for severe burn attacks should face life imprisonment.

Nepal's National Penal Code, which came into force in 2017, was the country's first law to define causing bodily harm through acid, chemical or poisonous substances as a separate criminal offence.

The law distinguishes between injuries to the face and injuries to other parts of the body.

Under Section 193, anyone who uses acid or other chemical, biological or poisonous substances to disfigure another person's face or body commits a criminal offence. If the victim's face is disfigured, the offender faces between five and eight years' imprisonment and a fine ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs500,000.

If the attack disfigures another part of the body or causes bodily pain, the punishment is lower, ranging from three to five years in prison and fines of Rs50,000 to Rs300,000.

Critics say the law creates an unjust distinction. Severe burns or permanent disfigurement to other parts of the body, including the hands, chest, back, abdomen or legs, can be equally devastating, yet they carry lighter penalties.

Other burn-related cases are generally prosecuted under broader laws, including the Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2009, the Evidence Act, 1974, the Senior Citizens Act, 2006, the Crime Victims Protection Act, 2018, and the Administration of Justice Act, 2016.

Rights advocates have long argued that Nepal's legal framework is discriminatory because attacks involving acid attract one set of punishments, while victims who suffer similar injuries after being burned with fire, kerosene or other means fall under entirely different legal provisions.

Public attention to burn violence intensified after two young women were attacked with acid in Kathmandu in July 2020.

Following the incident, the government introduced the Acid and Other Chemical Substances Ordinance, 2021. The Federal Parliament subsequently enacted the ordinance into law as the Acid and Other Chemical Substances Act, 2022.

The law imposes fines ranging from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000 and prison terms of between three months and one year on anyone who produces, imports, sells, distributes or transports acid without authorisation.

It also provides that licensed individuals who fail to comply with regulatory conditions may face fines ranging from Rs10,000 to Rs50,000, imprisonment of up to one month, or both.

The law also stipulates that packaging hazardous chemicals without proper labelling is punishable by a fine of between Rs50,000 and Rs100,000, imprisonment for up to three months, or both. Anyone found selling, distributing, displaying or disposing of such substances in violation of the law can be fined between Rs10,000 and Rs40,000.

But the debate did not end there.

A broader question began to emerge: Is acid the only means by which people suffer life-altering burn injuries? What about victims who are deliberately set on fire, burned with flammable liquids, scalded with hot substances or attacked through other methods?

Seeking to address that gap, in 2024, 14 lawmakers, led by Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Bindabasini Kansakar, registered a non-governmental bill titled the Human Body Burning Control and Punishment Bill, 2024, at the Parliament Secretariat.

Kansakar, herself an acid attack survivor, said the proposed legislation is more than just another legal document. It is rooted in her own experience and the suffering of burn survivors.

“In Nepal, burn violence is still not treated with the seriousness it deserves,” she said. “There is a law dealing with acid attacks, but many other forms of burn violence remain inadequately addressed by the legal system.”

According to Kansakar, the state has failed to respond adequately to the challenges burn survivors face, from prolonged hospitalisation and financial hardship to years of medical treatment, rehabilitation and social discrimination.

“The struggle begins on the day of the attack,” she said. “Treatment costs, plastic surgery, repeated operations, mental health, education, employment and social relationships are all affected. Yet the law still does not comprehensively address these issues.”

Pratiksha Giri, executive director of Burn Violence Survivors Nepal, said Nepal's legal framework discriminates between survivors of acid attacks and survivors of other forms of burn violence.

She said victims may suffer equally severe and life-changing burn injuries, but acid attacks carry harsher criminal penalties, while burns caused by fire, kerosene, petrol or other means are typically prosecuted under domestic violence laws or other general legal provisions.

She also questioned a compensation system that is determined largely by the degree of physical disability rather than the overall impact of the crime.

“Whether someone is burned with acid, petrol, kerosene or any other method, the suffering is the same,” Giri said. “But the law treats victims differently, and that is discriminatory.”

She said burn survivors often fail to receive timely medical treatment, face significant obstacles in obtaining justice and continue to receive inadequate support from the government.

Giri said her organisation has submitted recommendations to the government calling for an end to disparities in punishment between acid attacks and other burn-related crimes. The recommendations also urge authorities to introduce burn prevention education in schools, strengthen the social reintegration of burn survivors, implement targeted programmes to prevent burn injuries caused by electricity, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and violence, and make fire safety standards mandatory in building construction, with regular monitoring and enforcement.

Advocate Shashi Basnet said Nepal's existing legal framework remains inadequate and argued that the country needs a dedicated law covering all forms of burn-related violence.

According to her, current legislation contains neither a clear nor a comprehensive definition of burn injuries. Because the law primarily focuses on acid attacks, crimes involving fire, kerosene, petrol, boiling water, electric shock or other causes of burns are not sufficiently addressed.

She also pointed to the disparity in punishments between acid attacks and other forms of burn violence.

“There are no clear legal provisions guaranteeing treatment, compensation, relief or rehabilitation for burn survivors,” Basnet said. “Institutional accountability is also unclear in cases involving gas explosions or electrical negligence. Even terms such as ‘disfigured’, which are used in the law, can deepen the psychological trauma experienced by survivors and should therefore be reconsidered.”

Dr Sameer Kumar Adhikari, assistant spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Food Safety, said the ministry has been expanding burn units in hospitals in response to the growing number of burn cases.

He added that discussions are underway on amending existing legislation and integrating Nepal's scattered legal provisions on burn violence into a single legal framework.

“Discussions on the legal aspects are currently underway,” Adhikari said. “We can say more only after a decision has been made.”