25-year-old man, whose hands were chopped off, allegedly raped a baby girl in 2014.
Highlights
- Incident after accused appeared in court for 'raping 7-month-girl'
- Girl's father lured accused by offering out-of-court settlement
- Police hunting for the father, case of murder registered against him
A father chopped off the hands of a teenager who allegedly raped his baby daughter before dumping him alive near a canal in Punjab, the police said today.
Parminder Singh approached the 17-year-old accused on Tuesday after he had appeared in a local court charged with raping the then seven-month-old girl in 2014.
Police said Mr Singh, 25, lured the teenager away from the court in Bathinda district by offering him an out-of-court settlement, before tying him to a tree and cutting off both of his hands.
"He (the father) took him near a dried up canal, beat him up badly and then tied him to a tree and finally hacked his hands off. There is nothing below the wrists now," Swapan Sharma, a senior police officer of Bathinda, told news agency AFP by telephone.
"Locals alerted police and we rushed to the spot. We picked him up, his hands, and took him to the hospital," he said, adding that the accused was in a stable condition.
Mr Sharma said police are hunting for the father, a brick kiln labourer who fled after the attack, and have registered a case of attempted murder against him.
The mother of the girl allegedly found the accused molesting her in April 2014. Police registered a rape case and the teen was sent to a juvenile remedial home pending a trial.
That incident prompted the government to toughen penalities for rapists and overhaul policing to better protect women and children.
In November 2014, a father tortured and killed his daughter's alleged rapist before turning himself in to police.