A 26-year-old woman in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh was allegedly raped by her father-in-law when her husband was not in the house, reported Indian media.

The woman's husband then thrashed her and abandoned her, saying that she had become his father's wife and his "ammi" (mother).

The victim, who got married last year, filed a complaint with the police on September 7, alleging that her father-in-law raped her on August 5.

She said that her husband had taken the mother-in-law to a traditional medicine practitioner on that day, and that her father-in-law took advantage of her absence to rape her.

The woman said that she was also threatened and beaten up by her father-in-law after the rape. When she told her husband about what had happened, he refused to believe her and threw her out of the house.

The victim is now living with her parents. She is seven months pregnant, but she did not mention this in her complaint to the police.

The police have registered a case against the woman's father-in-law and husband under Section 376 (sexual assault), Section 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation).

The Station House Officer Ravinder Yadav said that the police have initiated legal proceedings against the father-in-law and the husband based on the complaint lodged by the victim and have commenced an official inquiry.

He further mentioned that the victim's statement had been officially documented before a magistrate in accordance with Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The father-in-law has denied the allegations and claimed that the woman is lying. He said that she is trying to extort money from him.

The case is being investigated by the police.