After 19 aborted foetuses were discovered on a road on Sunday in western Maharashtra, three more doctors were arrested on Tuesday in connection with it, blowing the lid off a much larger abortion racket.
The fresh arrests have been made in Belgaum, Karnataka and three people have been charged with supplying medicines for the illegal foeticide carried out by Dr Khirdapure.
Khirdapure was arrested in Belgaum on Tuesday.
Khidrapure, a homoeopath, was carrying out the illegal abortions at his clinic at a village in Maharashtra’s Sangli district.
A woman, he carried out the surgery on, died during the procedure on Sunday after which a police complaint was lodged by her parents. The complaint led to the finding of the other discarded foetuses, at walking distance from his clinic.
While some of the foetuses were buried, others were carelessly thrown away in plastic bags along with animal waste and sewage. Police also found 40bags of skeletons, umbilical cords and other remains, which were sent for tests.
Instances of Maharashtra women being taken to the Karnataka border for abortions is not something uncommon. In such cases, the Maharashtra Police cannot directly intervene and initiate action.
Such a cross-border racket does exist and they profit from loopholes in the policing system and lack of communication between the two state governments.A government official on condition of anonymity
In recent years, two female foeticide rackets were busted in Maharashtra’s Beed district, wherein the foetuses were allegedly fed to stray dogs in attempts to destroy the evidence.
A statewide crackdown on such clinics was conducted, the instances of such wide-spread operations dipped. Yet, female foeticide are making headlines again, sadly and ironically on the eve of International Women’s Day.
(With inputs from Ashish Dikshit)
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