Retired man held for raping five daughters

A retired state government employee was arrested in Rajasthan for raping his five daughters for years, police said Wednesday. His wife was also taken into custody for hiding the sexual exploitation.

According to police, the incident occurred in a village near Bayana in Bharatpur district, some 150 km from Jaipur.

Babu Lal Dhakar, 62, who retired from the agriculture department, and his wife were arrested Tuesday, police said.

A court Wednesday sent them to 14 days judicial custody, police said.

"The man has five daughters - all of whom are now married. The heinous crime committed by him came to light when one of his daughters approached police Tuesday and lodged a first information report (FIR) alleging rape," said a police officer.

The complainant alleged that she was sexually exploited from 1999 to 2003 while she was in college.

"She said that when she got pregnant, her father got her to abort the baby. The victim told her mother about the sexual exploitation, but she ignored her complaint saying that her elder sisters were also similarly raped by their father and it was a family tradition. The mother advised her to keep mum about it," said the officer.

"The victim got married in 2007 and then had two daughters. Recently, she came to her parents' house and was shocked when her father misbehaved with her three-year-old daughter. She then decided to lodge a police complaint," said the officer.

After recording her statement, police contacted the victim's other sisters who also admitted that they were raped by their father, the officer added.

"Babu Lal was arrested immediately. It was quite shocking that his wife knew about the rapes. We arrested her also for criminal conspiracy and hiding the crime," said the officer.