India rape victim's mother 'beaten by accused's father'

LUCKNOW: The mother of an Indian rape victim was allegedly beaten by the father of the accused after her family refused to withdraw allegations against his son, police said today.

The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was critically ill in hospital after suffering multiple fractures in the attack at the family’s home in the Etawah district of Uttar Pradesh, police and medics said.

The father of the accused has been arrested and police said they were still looking for several other suspects accused of taking part in the attack on the victim’s mother on May 26.

“The father of the rapist was arrested by our team this morning. Other accused shall be arrested shortly,” local police chief R. K. Chaturvedi told AFP.

According to the NDTV network, the mother was attacked in a field near the family home by five men who had already tried to pressure her into dropping the complaint.

News of the attack comes amid outrage in Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, over the death earlier this week of two teenage girls who were found hanging from a tree after being gang-raped.

Police said Friday that three people, including a police constable, had been arrested in connection with the attack on the cousins, aged 14 and 15 who were found hanging on Wednesday.

Mukul Goel, a senior police officer, told AFP that it had still not been determined whether the victims had committed suicide or been strung up as a way of silencing them after they were raped.

“Only a thorough police probe would confirm whether the girls were murdered or they committed suicide,” the officer told AFP.

The cases have once again highlighted India’s dismal record on preventing sexual violence, despite tougher laws after the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in New Delhi in December 2012.--AFP