MANDYA: Four persons were caught red-handed on Sunday, conducting a sex-selective abortion on a woman, in Pandavapura taluk of Mysuru district. Ironically, illegal termination of the female foetus was being done at the residential quarters of the medical department personnel, situated just behind the taluk health officer’s office.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided the quarters and apprehended four individuals -- Anand, ambulance driver of the taluk government hospital, his wife Ashwini, a D-Group employee in the taluk government hospital, Ashwini’s mother Shashikala, and Girijamba, a nurse from Babu Nursing Home. Preliminary investigations have unveiled a disturbing pattern of female foeticide spanning several months within the residential quarters. Acting on public information, a police team led by sub-inspector Umesh conducted a midnight raid on Sunday, resulting in the arrest of the four perpetrators.
The woman being operated on was Pushpalatha, a resident of Salundi in Mysuru, and mother of two daughters. Coerced by family pressure for a male child, Pushpalatha underwent a sex determination test, and on discovering the foetus was female, there was a demand for abortion. Police promptly transported Pushpalatha to the government hospital, and also seized medical supplies, including tablets, syringes and drip bottles used in the illegal termination. Police said doctors in the government hospital performed the abortion and provided medical care to the woman.
Anand, who had been serving as an ambulance driver on contract basis for nine years, resided in the health department’s residential quarters with his wife and mother-in-law.
Preliminary investigations revealed a well-organised operation where the woman from Mysuru underwent a sex determination test in a secluded place. Anand and his accomplices provided abortion pills and instructed her to visit a private lodge until labour pain began, at which point she was brought to the quarters for termination.