A teenaged girl suffered almost 40 per cent burns on Wednesday morning when a jilted youth threw acid at her in Sitamarhi district.

As soon as the girl, an Intermediate student and resident of Bairgania in Sitamarhi, opened the main door around 6am, a youth, identified as Ashiq, threw acid at her. She received burn injuries on her face, hands and other parts of her body. Alarmed by her cry, her neighbours rushed to her home, caught Ashiq and handed him over to police. The family members rushed the victim to the primary health centre from where she was referred to the Sadar Hospital in Sitamarhi district, around 210km northeast of Patna.

Sources said she has suffered 35-40 per cent burns.

Police said Ashiq (20), a tailor by profession, was a tenant at the girl's house in Bairgania bazaar, around 35km northwest of Sitamarhi town. A month back the family asked him to leave after the girl complained to her parents that he was harassing her with marriage proposals. But, even after vacating the place, he used to visit the area for tailoring jobs.

Bairgania police station house officer Sanjeev Kumar claimed Ashiq got agitated after the girl rejected his proposals for marriage. "He was dejected after he came to know that the girl's parents had arranged for her marriage in May this year. That might have triggered him to take this extreme step," he added.

Sanjeev said Ashiq has been booked under sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326A (causing severe injuries by throwing acid) of the Indian Penal Code after an FIR was lodged based on the victim's statement. The minimum punishment under Section 326A is imprisonment for 10 years. It can extend up to life term with fine.

One of the neighbours of the victim said: "The girl's father owns an ice cream shop at Bairgania bazaar close to the India-Nepal border. Before asking the youth to leave the house, he had approached the panchayat to settle the matter. The boy refused to mend his ways and was finally asked to leave. On Wednesday, he attacked the girl with acid."

Social activist Ganesh Kumar Singh lamented that the ease of buying acid in the markets, despite restrictions by the state government, was the reason for the recent spurt in acid attacks.

According to the rules, it is mandatory for stockists and retailers to register themselves with the state government. Sale of acid to minors is also banned. Retailers have been asked to sell acid only after recording personal details of the customer such as proof of identity and address.

Singh said: "The government has framed rules to regulate the sale of acid but the regulations have been thrown to the winds. They are hardly followed by the retailers, leading to rise in the incidents of acid attack in the state."

This is not the only acid attack case in Bihar in recent memory. There has been a spurt in acid attacks in the state in the past one year. At least 20 incidents of acid attack - most of them over property - were reported across the state in 2014.

As recent as February 15, two women were attacked with acid at a village under Dalsingsarai police station in Samastipur district. The victims suffered over 40 per cent burn injuries following a dispute over property.