Bhubaneswar, May 16: A 23-year-old woman (name withheld) allegedly raped by her father-in-law today lodged a complaint at the Mahila police station here.

The victim, hailing from Kakatpur village in Puri, was married off to one Bulu Palari of neighbouring Bandia village in 2007. Soon after the wedding, the young bride realised that she had married a mentally unstable man.

Resigning to her fate, the woman continued to live with the man, taking care of him.

Meanwhile, her father-in-law Bamadev Palari, who worked in Satna in Madhya Pradesh, visited them. He convinced the woman to accompany him to Satna where they could get Bulu treated.

“Despite my repeated requests to treat my husband in Cuttack or Bhubaneswar, he insisted that we should go to Madhya Pradesh,” the victim said today. On their arrival in Satna, Bamadev started behaving “inappropriately” with her, she alleged.

On May 5, he allegedly raped the young woman.

Finding herself helpless in an unknown state, the woman decided to commit suicide. But was rescued by residents, when she tried to end her life on a railway track.

She was then handed over to Maa Ghara, a shelter for destitute women, in Bhubaneswar. Rituparna Mohanty, the secretary of the shelter home, said the woman was being counselled. “She is in a state of shock, but is determined to fight,” said Mohanty.

“Though the incident happened in Madhya Pradesh and does not fall under our jurisdiction, however, we will be taking appropriate steps to get the case registered,” conceded Bilasini Nayak, the inspector in charge of the Mahila police station, Bhubaneswar.