Patna: Two women in Bihar chopped off the hands of their father-in-law after thwarting his rape attempt. Later, they approached the police to register a case against him. The incident occurred while their husbands were away.

The events unfolded at Bhanas village under Dinara block in Rohtas district, more than 150 kilometres southwest of Patna, capital city of Bihar, on Thursday evening.

Police said Uma Devi was alone in her room on Thursday evening when her father-in-law Radheshyam Singh, 45, barged inside and tried to molest her. She raised an alarm.

Hearing her cries, the woman’s sister-in-law Savita Devi who was chopping vegetables rushed to her help. Seeing his second daughter-in-law at the scene, Radheshyam turned to her and tried to rape her instead. In a fit of rage, Savita picked up an axe used to cut animal fodder and chopped off both his hands, with help from Uma.

As the victim lay on the ground unconscious and bleeding profusely, Savita picked up the axe and went to the local police station to register a case against the father-in-law.

Case registered

“Even before we could rush to the spot, one of the victim’s daughters-in-law Savita Devi approached us with the axe and asked us to register the case,” a local police official Ganesh Kumar told the media on Saturday, adding the case had been registered.

He said the police were yet to record the statement of the accused as his condition was serious.

Initially, the police admitted the wounded man to a local hospital for treatment but the doctors referred him to Varanasi after finding his condition serious.