Pregnant Woman Attacked With Acid By Her Mother-In-Law In Attempt To Kill Her Baby.

A pregnant mother is recovering in hospital after her Indian in-laws poured acid on her bump in an attempt to fry the baby after a prediction it would be a girl. The 27-year-old victim - named as S Girija by police in Nellore, eastern India - collapsed in agony when her husband's mother and her sister-in-law poured a powerful acid on her baby bump.

Investigators believe that the women were attempting to kill both Girija and her unborn child after an astrologer said she was expecting a girl.

Police have confirmed the victim's mother-in-law is on the run, but her husband and his father, who were not named in reports, have been arrested in the attempted murder investigation.

Girija already has an 18-month-old daughter and police believe she was attacked to stop her husband fathering a second girl.

The attack came just days of the victim's mother-in-law had consulted a fortune teller over the baby's gender, according to local reports. Medics say she has severe burns over 30 percent of her body.