2 arrested for fatal attack on UP rape victim's mother

Kanpur: In a major development, the police in Kanpur have arrested the two absconding accused in the fatal attack on a rape victim's mother.

During a brief encounter, the two absconders, Parvez and Mohammed Abid, were shot by the police on their legs.

Parvez and Abid have been admitted to the Kanshi Ram hospital in Ramadevi area of the city.

The police said that both were named along with four others in the FIR lodged at Chakeri police station on January 9.

Earlier on Friday, the rape victim's mother, who was brutally attacked by two of the five accused, died after struggling for seven days in the hospital.

The men reportedly forced the woman and her daughter to take back the statements in the abuse case against them. When the woman refused, the accused brutally attacked her with sticks, stones on January 10, outside their Kanpur residence.

In 2018, five men had allegedly molested a 13-year old minor girl in Kanpur. While the police arrested them in 2018, all were reportedly given bail by a local court in 2019.

Since then, they had allegedly made several attempts to force the victim to take back her statements, but she refused to do so.

Talking about the incident on January 10, the husband of the deceased said: "My wife and daughter had gone to the dentist. That is when the accused attempted to launch a brutal attack on them. There is an ongoing case lodged against these men under the POCSO Act. My son and I were at the shop when the attack took place."

The victim's brother added that the accused had been forcing her to take back their statements.

"There were at least 10 men who broke into our house and dragged my sister outside the apartment. These men brutally attacked them," he said, adding that the assailants had threatened to kill the mother-daughter if they did not withdraw their complaint.

Uttar Pradesh DGP O.P. Singh stated that the police would examine the matter.

"We are probing the matter and ensure strict punishment for the accused."