Her husband set her on fire on September 4 following a dispute over a missed call on her mobile phone.

Her condition is critical as 42 percent of her body including her face is badly burnt, said a doctor.

Kajol, 23, a resident of North Bashabo in the capital, is the second wife of Anisur Rahman Rimon, who works as a medical representative in Pabna. Rimon hid from her at the time of their wedding that he already had another wife with two children, Kajol said.

Someone gave her a missed call on her mobile phone while she was having lunch with her husband on the day, Kajol said.

Her husband wanted to know who made the call and started quarrelling with her over the matter.

At night Rimon went outside and made a phone call to Kajol to find the number busy. As he inquired about it later, she said she had been talking to her father on the phone.

Following the exchange she was making arrangements for dinner in the kitchen lit with candles, as a load shedding was going on, when Rimon doused her with a liquid that smelt like kerosene and within a few seconds her body was on fire, Kajol said.

Hearing her screams, her sister Sheuli Akter, who was lying in the next room, rushed to her and doused the fire.

Kajol's husband, sister and neighbours rushed her to DMCH.

Later DMCH camp police arrested Rimon and handed him over to Sabujbagh police.

The thought of Kajol possibly having an extra marital affair made him jealous, Rimon told police before his arrest.

Monjurul Alam Babu, husband of Kajol's another sister, filed a cased against Rimon with Sabujbagh police station.

Kajol met Rimon at Holy Family Red Crescent Hospital when her mother was admitted there for treatment in September 2005, she said, adding that they got married after seeing each other for a month.