Haryana Police arrest doctor for female foeticide

Police have arrested a doctor on suspicion of illegally aborting female foetuses after recovering some 35 tiny bones from the basement of his clinic in Gurgaon.

Pataudi (Haryana), June 15 : Police have arrested a doctor on suspicion of illegally aborting female foetuses after recovering some 35 tiny bones from the basement of his clinic in Gurgaon.

Acting on a complaint by the state health department, Haryana Police conducted a raid at Buala Nursing Home in Pataudi village and discovered the dumped foetuses from the tank in its premises.

A health official said around eight skull pieces and some femurs had been recovered from an underground septic tank.

"The maternity home is neither registered for MTP (Medical Termination of Pregnancy) nor for ultrasound We have seized machines and equipments," said S.S. Dalal, a civil surgeon.

Ajay Kumar Singh accepted that he was not a qualified doctor, he, however, denied conducting abortions. He even alleged the numerous signs leading to the clinic that bore his name had been planted.

"There is no question of foetuses being found there. There might be the odd piece of placenta though since deliveries do take place at the place. Since this is the season when it happens most, we cannot turn away cases of miscarriage. We leave miscarried foetuses up to the patients themselves," Singh said.

However, relatives of the absconding doctor said he is innocent. Singh's son Sonu said that everything is political. Police and the villagers suspect the remains could be that of unborn female foetuses. It is common in several parts of the country to abort female foetuses.Despite India banning use of technology to determine the sex of unborn foetuses and termination of pregnancies based on gender, unscrupulous medical practitioners still carry out this highly profitable, but unethical business.According to the Government data, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have heavily skewed sex ratios.

In Rajasthan, there are 922 females to every 1,000 males, but officials say in Punjab and Haryana, the sex ratio could be as low as 500 or 600 females to 1,000 males.

ANI