'Shaheen sustained burns on her head, face, chest and abdomen. She was rushed to the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital in Delhi where doctors have declared her condition critical,' said a police official.

'Her former suitor took help from his two friends and threw acid on her face as revenge for her refusal to marry him,' the official added.

Shaheen's anguished father said: 'Earlier, the two families had thought of getting the two (Shaheen and Wali Mohammed) married. Shaheen was a brilliant and beautiful girl. The boy wanted to marry her but Shaheen refused to marry him.'

In his police complaint, he added that Wali Mohammed was angry with her for refusing to marry him.