A mother was gang-raped in front of her three-year-old daughter by attackers who killed her two-week-old son before assaulting the woman on a bus in India.

The 28-year-old had been visiting her sister when the bus pulled into a station in the town of Shishgarh in northern India's Uttar Pradesh State.

Police say her daughter, who hid in a corner of the bus, was the only witness as two men raped her mother. She has since given an account of the harrowing ordeal.

A mother was gang-raped in front of her three-year-old daughter by attackers who killed her two-week-old son before assaulting the woman on a bus in India

Police spokesman Surendra Singh Panwar said two men had been arrested and charged with gang rape and culpable homicide.

He said: 'She reached Shishgarh on Monday evening. At the bus station, from where she was to catch a bus to Bareilly, where she met the two accused.'

Another police spokesman, Yamuna Prasad added: 'Her child had been sick for some time and she went to visit her sister to meet a tantrik (a Buddhist healer).

'She was returning when she met the two accused at the bus station. She was allegedly raped inside the bus at the bus station. Later, she found her child dead.'

Police say her daughter, who hid in a corner of the bus, was the only witness as two men raped her mother. She has since given an account of the harrowing ordeal

The distraught woman was taken to hospital where she is receiving medical attention.

According to the Times of India, her baby was killed when attackers threw him to the ground.

The little girl managed to slip out of the bus without the attackers seeing. She was later found beside her unconscious mother by the side of the road.

The attack is just one of several recently reported cases of rape against women or children in India.

It comes after a 15-year-old girl in New Delhi lost her fight for life days after she was raped and set on fire by an attacker.