Pregnant woman allegedly raped by father-in-law, abandoned by husband

A 26-year-old woman was abandoned by her husband after his father allegedly raped her at a village in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar, police said on Thursday.

In a complaint lodged with the police on September 7, the woman, who got married last year, has alleged her father-in-law raped her when her husband was not at the house on August 5. She alleged she was also threatened and beaten up by the accused.

The woman alleged that when she narrated the incident to her husband, he refused to live with her and ousted her from their house. The woman is living with her parents now.

The woman is said to be seven months pregnant but she has not mentioned this in the complaint, police said.

SHO Ravinder Yadav said police have registered a case against the father-in-law and the husband under relevant sections on the complaint of the victim and launched an investigation.

The woman's statement has been recorded before a magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC, he said.

The father-in-law has denied the allegations and alleged she was putting pressure on them to extract money.

A similar case hit the headlines in June 2005 when a 28-year-old mother of five had accused her father-in-law of raping her, and a local community panchayat banned her from living with her husband and asked her to treat him as her son.