Rape victim's father shot dead in Uttar Pradesh

The father of a rape victim was allegedly shot dead by the accused in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad district, about 325 kilometres from here.

According to the police sources here, the father of the rape victim, was sprayed with bullets while he was on his way back home from work on Monday evening.

He was rushed to the district hospital but was declared brought dead, sources said. The family members of the rape victim alleged that the youth, who was the rape accused, had shot him dead.

Three police personnel, including two inspectors, were suspended for laxity and a massive hunt was launched to nab the culprit, who was absconding.

Sources said that the daughter of the deceased was raped in August last year and a complaint was lodged with the police in this regard. The alleged offender, however, was not arrested by the police.

''We have registered a case....we are trying to ascertain if the accused was behind the killing,'' said a senior police official in Firozabad on Tuesday.

Two rape survivors were set ablaze in the state last year. In both the cases the police were accused of being soft on the accused persons. A few rape victims had also committed suicides in the state.

The rising cases of rapes and killing of the victims and their family members in the state have invited sharp criticism of the BJP government by the opposition parties.