Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has been coming down heavily on doctors who perform illegal sex determination tests, but the health ministry was recently stumped when alerted that a doctor arrested for female foeticide in Beed district, Maharashtra, was feeding the foetuses to his dogs to destroy evidence.
A health ministry official told Gulf News that an investigation had been ordered to verify whether the "rumour" was true but the seriousness of the case can be judged by the fact that the government has asked the Criminal Investigation Department to take over the probe.
The shocking news came to light when the police in Beed arrested a couple, Sudam Munde and his wife Saraswati, both doctors, following a woman's death during an abortion on May 18 at their clinic in Parli, Beed. The couple had been charged with causing death by negligence under the Indian Penal Code and also under Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prevention) Act.
Mother-of-four, Vijaymala Patekar, 28, who was six months pregnant and a sugarcane farm worker, had gone to Munde's clinic for an abortion since she did not want another child. But she died during the procedure.
Previous charge
Superintendent of Police, Beed, Dattaray Mandlik, said by telephone that the woman had died due to "heavy bleeding". He added: "A year before Munde had been booked in another case of female foeticide," he said. At that time a foetus was found on their farm.
State Health Minister Suresh Shetty had told a Mumbai tabloid: "One of the officials told me that Dr Munde had four dogs and that he used to feed them the foetuses after performing abortions to destroy evidence."
He said the police have been asked to investigate the allegations. Despite the health department officials sealing his sonography machine and cancelling his licence two years back, he has still managed to continue with his practice, the minister said.
Meanwhile, Varsha Deshpande, a lawyer and activist who fights against female foeticide and who has conducted her own sting operations to expose this crime, has appealed to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to have the case taken outside the Marathwada region because of Munde's strong political influence in the locality.
According to a 2011 census, the Beed district has the worst child sex ratio in Maharashtra — 801 girls per 1,000 boys.
