Foeticide case: 242 abortions in 3 months, 9 held 2 on run in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: The Byappanahalli police have arrested nine people in the sex determination and female foeticide case. In the last three months, the accused have performed 242 illegal abortions. Speaking to the media on Tuesday, city police commissioner B Dayananda said that the case is under investigation for the last 45 days. “On Oct 15, the Byappanahalli police during a vehicle checking drive observed suspicious movement of a car. When the suspects sped without stopping, the police chased and caught them.
When the suspects were questioned, the racket came to light. Of the nine arrested are two doctors, three lab technicians/compounders, two agents, one hospital manager and a receptionist. Police are yet to arrest two more agents,” the commissioner said.
The accused are from Mysuru and Mandya. The two doctors own hospitals at Udayagiri in Mysuru. Of the two doctors, one is a pediatrician. The other medico is an ayurvedic doctor and his wife, who was the hospital’s manager is another accused in the case. They were performing sex determination and abortion in the hospitals and also at a jaggery production unit in Mandya. Two ultrasound scanning machines have been seized from the accused.
Two of the accused are from Honnali who were working as agents and they are the ones who had provided the scanning machines. These two were also involved in a kidnap case.
They had maintained a register showing 242 illegal abortions of female fetuses in the last three months. For every abortion, they were charging between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000. For sex determination, they were charging Rs 5,000.
“As per the guidelines, the ultrasound scanning machines have to be given to a registered doctor after obtaining permission from the District Health Officer (DHO) or the officials concerned. There are clear violations in the guidelines. We are checking if any bureaucrats are involved in granting permission for the accused to use the machine. All the accused are in police custody, and are being interrogated,” added the commissioner.
The arrested doctors were allegedly involved for more than three years and have reportedly determined the sex of over 2,000 fetuses and conducted around 900 abortions.