Man held for raping 13-year-old daughter

   
IDUKKI (Ker): A 35-year-old man was on Thursday arrested for allegedly raping and making pregnant his teenaged daughter who recently gave birth to a premature child.    

The man, identified as Biju hailing from Nedumkandam in Idukki district, had molested his thirteen-and-a-half-year old daughter repeatedly ever since she came of age a year ago, police said.
    
A casual worker, Biju had threatened his wife and the victim with dire consequences if they told anyone.
    
The girl was first admitted to a local hospital after she complained of stomach ache and the doctor, who examined her, dismissed it as a problem linked to menstrual cycle.
   
A few months later, she was admitted to the hospital again and it was found that she was pregnant. She later gave birth a child in the seventh month of pregnancy in Salem, Tamil Nadu. The child is in the incubator in the hospital.   

The mother told some of her relatives about the abuse to which her daughter had been subjected by the father and they complained to the police, they said.
    
Biju, meanwhile, fled the place. Police traced and arrested him from Ranni in Pathanamthitta district on Friday. He is said to have admitted to the crime, police said, adding, he has been charged with raping the minor girl.