VIJAYAWADA: Responding to a police complaint lodged against Karthika Datta’s IVF Centre for forcing a 23-year-old woman to become a surrogate mother, AP Women’s Commission Chairperson Nannapaneni Rajakumari on Sunday urged the Vijayawada police to take severe action against the hospital management for ‘illegally detaining’ the complainant for two days.
Rajakumari said the ‘forceful surrogacy’ issue would be brought to the notice of the State government. “Stringent actions should be taken against such hospitals who are involved in illegal medical practices. Doctors, who work there or own the establishments, are luring young and poor women by offering them large sums of money to become a surrogate mother. The victim is unmarried and the hospital management’s action will ruin her entire life,” she lambasted.
The woman, Katta Sridevi from Guntur, lodged a police complaint on Saturday alleging her friend Sandhyarani, who works as a nurse with the IVF centre, and the hospital management of forcefully confining her and forcing her to become a surrogate.
Following her complaint, the Suryaraopet police registered a case under IPC Sections 342 and 370 (1) against Sandhyarani and the doctors concerned.
When the issue came to the notice of AP Women’s Commission, the latter said the doctors who are found guilty should be punished under the Section 302 of IPC (murder). “Forcing a woman for surrogacy is similar to committing a murder. If something goes wrong in the process, who will be held responsible?” Rajakumari said.