JAGATSINGHPUR: Three years after a case was filed against a private clinic owner in Jagatsinghpur town for allegedly running a racket involving abortion of minor girls, keeping unclaimed infants and suspected child trafficking, local police arrested the doctor and owner of the clinic Paramananda Acharya and another person Arabinda Khuntia from Cuttack on Thursday. The arrest was made basing on an FIR filed by chairperson of child welfare committee (CWC) Biseswari Mohanty in 2018 when two unclaimed babies were rescued from the clinic.
Sources said many private clinics in the rural areas of the district are operating without license, and carrying out delivery of unwed mothers and illegal trafficking of those babies after their mothers abandon them. In 2018, acting on a tip-off, the district child protection unit with the help of police had raided an unlicensed private clinic in Jagatsinghpur town and rescued two infants. The female child was a month old while the male was 15 months. Both their mothers, had reportedly left them at the clinic.
When Acharya was interrogated, he told the police that the babies were left by their mothers for rehabilitation as they could not afford their upbringing. Acharya also named his associate Arabinda Khuntia who played a vital role in running the clinic. However, suspecting that a child trafficking racket was in operation, CWC and police staff traced the mothers and handed over the babies after formalities.
Meanwhile, CWC chairperson Bisesweri Mohanty had lodged an FIR against Acharya for keeping unclaimed babies illegally. Mohanty had also stated in the FIR that Khuntia, a resident of Markandpur under Jagatsinghpur police limits, was also hand in glove with the doctor in running illegal activities in the clinic. Police had registered a case under Juvenile Justice Act and Immoral Trafficking Act, and started a probe. Jagatsinghpur IIC Rajani Kant Mishra said the accused duo was absconding for three years but finally nabbed from Cuttack. They have been forwarded to court on Friday.