Though the law says that the guilty have to be punished, the course of punishment defers from one region to another. And sometimes due to weak laws the accused escapes and gets a chance to commit more blunders and in some cases the law becomes stern and the punishment issued not only brings a change on the accused but also on the society prevailing.

In one such incident An Iranian waiter will be blinded in one eye as retribution for hurling acid at a man five years ago. Mohammad had confessed he was hired to throw acid at the victim, Vali, in return for around one million rials (less than £64), the Shargh report said. After much deliberation, the panel of judges presiding the case ordered the attacker to be blinded without acid in one eye and pay blood money for Vali's other injuries.

Vali, who was injured and blinded in one eye, asked for "qesas" - an eye for an eye style of justice - and that Mohammad be blinded in retribution. The Islamic Sharia code in force in Iran provides for retributive justice, most commonly for murder or for those convicted of causing intentional physical injury.

The latest verdict comes nearly two months after a female victim of an acid attack, Ameneh Bahrami, forgave her assailant at the 11th-hour after years of pushing for his ‘qesas’- an eye for an eye style of justice.