Indian man chops off teenage girl's hand with sword 'over mobile phone charger dispute'

Locals tell police victim was living with her family in very poor conditions in single rented room

The girl was rushed to the King George Medical University, in Lucknow, where her hand was sewn back. She remains in the hospital under observation (Bhanu Chaudhary/ Creative Commons )

A man chopped off the hand of a teenage girl with a sword in a busy marketplace in what police believe was a dispute over a phone charger.

Rohit Chaurasiya, 30, is accused of violently attacking the girl, severing her right hand from the wrist with the weapon.

The attack, near the city of Lakhimpur in Uttar Pradesh, which borders Nepal, also left the victim with injuries to her head and left hand.

The Hindu reported Mr Chaurasiya was charged with attempted murder, assaulting a woman with intent to outrage her modesty and voluntarily causing grievous bodily harm with a dangerous weapon.

The girl suffered from significant blood loss but after 11-hour surgery her hand was reattached by plastic surgeons at the King George Medical University hospital in Lucknow.

She remains under observation in hospital.

Witnesses and bypassers stopped the attacker from fleeing the scene and handed him to the police, the Hindustan Times reported.

Locals are said to have told police Mr Chaurasiya was the girl's neighbour and that she had borrowed a mobile phone charge belonging to his brother. It is claimed he became enraged when she refused to return it.

Police said the apparent dispute over the phone charger was considered as one possible motive but the exact cause of the attack could not yet be confirmed and that other theories were being investigated.

Family members had complained that the man had also been stalking her, according to some local media reports.

Neighbours told the Hindustan Times that the young girl was living in very poor conditions in a rented room with her blind mother, ailing father, two elder brothers and a young sister.

The district magistrate said aid and shelter will be provided to the girl's family following the attack.