A young girl, disfigured by an acid attack by her jilted lover, has finally stirred the Centre, which on Monday told the Supreme Court that it was actively considering the enactment of a separate provision in the Indian Penal Code to make even throwing hot water a serious offence.

"Most of the state governments were in favour of strengthening the provisions of IPC to take care of the offence of acid attack and attack by other corrosive substances as well as by hot water," additional solicitor general Mohan Parasaran told a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices L S Panta and P Sathasivam.

The Centre's response came on a PIL filed by teenager Laxmi, a Delhiite who fears to venture out with her face disfigured by an acid attack. Through lawyer Aparna Bhat, she had sought a direction from the court for enacting a law that provided for exemplary punishment to those throwing acid on girls as also a sound rehabilitation scheme for the victims.

The Centre said administration of criminal law being in the concurrent list, the ministry of home affairs on July 7 this year had convened a conference of home secretaries of the state governments to discuss the issue.

"Suggestions for adding a new Section 326A to IPC after existing Section 326 were also made by some of the state governments," Parasaran said informing the bench about the deliberations of the meeting of the home secretaries. By proposing to equate acid attack with provisions of Section 326, the government intends to bring it on a par with a crime that involves causing grievous injuries using deadly weapons, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.