ALAPPUZHA: A woman and four other members of her family were attacked with a machete by a man in this coastal district a day ago as she had declined his marriage proposal, police said on Saturday.
The accused man has been arrested and a case of attempt to murder under section 307 of the IPC has been registered against him, it said.
The woman, who works as a nurse in a Gulf country, had come on leave on Friday when the incident occurred.
The accused reached her house at night with a machete and attacked her and others in the family who tried to save her. Of the five persons injured, the woman's father is in critical condition with a cut to the neck, it added.
The woman was married earlier, but her husband had died and thereafter, she got acquainted with the accused who later proposed marriage to her.
However, she had not accepted the proposal, police said.