Chennai: A 28-year-old widow killed her father-in-law, claiming that she reacted in self-defence after he attempted to rape her while she was alone at her home near Pallavaram on the outskirts of Chennai in the early hours of Wednesday.Police identified the deceased man as Perumal, a 58-year-old fish vendor. The woman, had been living with her eight-year-old daughter, father-in-law and mother-in-law after her husband died due to illness three months ago.According to the preliminary investigation, the man had been sexually harassing the survivor for some time by making inappropriate remarks and unwanted physical advances. She reportedly informed her mother-in-law about his behaviour, which led to frequent arguments between the couple. Following one such quarrel, her mother-in-law left the house a few days ago to stay with her relatives, leaving the woman and her daughter alone with Perumal.Police said in the early hours of Wednesday, the man forced his way into the room where the survivor and her daughter were sleeping and attempted to sexually assault her. During the struggle, she pushed him to the ground, picked up a sickle from the house and slit his throat.Following this, she came out of the house holding the sickle and informed her neighbours that she had killed her father-in-law after he tried to rape her. She asked them to hand her over to police and requested that her daughter be taken care of.Shankar Nagar police reached the spot, took the survivor into custody and seized the weapon. The body was sent to the Chengalpet GH for postmortem. Police said the case was under investigation and that no arrest had been made so far.
