14 foetuses found dumped on roadside in Jharkhand; illegal abortion network suspected
PATNA: As many as 14 foetuses were recovered from the roadside of a village in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district, prompting police to suspect it to be the handiwork of an illegal abortion network, and start an investigation on Tuesday.
The 14 foetuses– of which 12 are female – were kept in glass jars in two sacks and dumped in the bushes beside a road in Dumarthar village under Mohanpur block of the northern district bordering Bihar, said police. Villagers found one male and 11 female foetuses in the sack on Monday evening. A woman had found a male and female foetus each on Sunday, added police.
The recoveries sent health department and police officials in Deoghar district into a tizzy. An FIR was lodged against unidentified people at Mohanpur police station.
“A team has been formed under the civil surgeon to probe the incident. There are some nursing homes in the locality where these foetuses have been recovered. The probe is trying to ascertain their possible role in it,” said district superintendent of police, A Vijayalakshmi
Police sources termed the recoveries as abortions conducted following prenatal tests to ascertain the sex of the foetus. They also did not rule out the angle of termination of pregnancies arising out of wedlock.
The SP has asked the probe team to submit its report in a week. While police are trying to discover the identity of those who dumped the fetuses, and the nursing homes they possibly came from, health department officials are looking into medical waste disposal practices undertaken by nursing homes.
“A DNA test of the foetuses will be conducted, and they are currently being preserved for this purpose,” said Shiv Chandra Jha, district civil surgeon.
Since 12 of the 14 foetuses are female, it is suspected to be an outcome of female foeticide. Deoghar district and neighbouring Banka district in Bihar are known as hubs of illegal abortion networks.
Jharkhand’s sex ratio at birth fell from 1,019 in 2005-06 to 919 in 2015-16, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).