Acid Attack Victim
(Representative Image) A hand of an acid attack victim hangs from a bed during a therapy session at a secure shelter run by non-profit organisation "Cambodia Acid Survivors Charity" outside Phnom Penh July 7, 2010. After years of indifference to a rise in acid attacks across Cambodia, authorities are drafting up legislation to restrict acid sales and to punish perpetrators. The move comes as Cambodia seeks to tidy up its reputation for human rights abuses, rampant corruption, and lax law enforcement, some of many factors that have deterred foreign investors. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

A teenaged girl in the Indian city of Vishakapatnam narrowly avoided serious injury after her boyfriend allegedly threw acid on her.

The 18-year-old girl was subjected to the brutal treatment in the state of Andhra Pradesh because she refused the boy's sexual advances, First Post reports.

The incident took place in a secluded area near the Bheemunipatnam police station on the night of 24 March, and came to light the following morning when the girl reported the attack to police.

Both the victim and the boy accused of attacking her, named as P Ganesh, belong to neighbouring areas of Vishakapatnam and are first-year graduation students. They eloped from their respective families and were planning to get married against their parents' wishes.

According to the police, the couple reached the Bheemunipatnam district on Saturday evening.

The girl told the police that her boyfriend attempted to rape her on Sunday night but when she refused, he threw the corrosive substance on her.

The girl was rescued by a group trying to pick coconuts from the nearby trees, who also let her stay with them overnight. Afterwards she told her parents about the incident and lodged the police complaint.

The police are in search of the accused, who is at large, while the girl has been moved to the King George Hospital for medical tests and treatment.

The police said that Ganesh intended to rape the girl and had already come prepared with the chemical.

India Human rights