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> >Crime Patrol Satark - Ep 914 - Full Episode - 28th April, 2018 > >
Part 1
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In a shocking discovery, the police on Sunday retrieved as many as 19 female
foetuses from a sewer in a village in western Maharashtra’s Sangli
district.
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The police, while investigating the death of 26-year-old Swati Jamdade,
allegedly after an illegal abortion went awry on March 3, discovered the
abandoned foetuses in blue plastic bags in the sewer a few yards away from a
private clinic at Mhaisal village, 260 km from here, on Sunday.
The clinic, named ‘Bharati Hospital’ is run by one Dr. Babasaheb Khidrapure.
He and an accomplice allegedly ran this racket. His wife is suspected to have
been involved as well.
The doctor, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in Homoeopathy, is on the run, said
Sangli Superintendent of Police Dattatray Shinde. A number of health
authorities from the district headquarters descended upon Mhaisal on Monday,
with many questioning Dr. Khidrapure’s dubious medical antecedents.
Villagers said the clinic was in operation for nearly a decade.
Mr. Shinde told The Hindu that the police had constituted four-five teams to
nab the culprit, while spreading the dragnet to neighbouring Karnataka as
well.
“At present, we are grilling the compounder about the nature of the illicit
abortion racket, which we believe has been going on for over two months now,”
he said.
The illegal operation used to be carried out on the ground floor of the
clinic. The police raid yielded a number of surgical instruments and other
equipment. A register apparently containing names and addresses of patients is
also being scrutinised.
Victim's husband arrested
Meanwhile, the deceased woman's husband, Praveen Jamdade, has been taken into
police custody after Swati’s kin lodged a complaint with the police.
According to sources, the deceased was taken to Dr. Khidrapure’s clinic by her
husband for abortion as the couple had a girl child for the third time.
Swati’s kin alleged that her in-laws forced her to abort when they discovered
the child was a girl.
Swati’s father, Sunil Jadhav, complained to the police of Praveen’s
‘willingness’ to abort the foetus when it was illicitly detected as being that
of a girl. ''He went ahead with the illegal operation despite my objections,
causing my daughter’s death,” he said.
The Jadhav kin, appalled by Swati’s death and the grisly nature of the racket,
have demanded stern action against the doctor.
A case has been registered against both Praveen Jamdade and Dr. Khidrapure
under sections 302 and 204 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code
(IPC) and the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act,
1994 among others.
Eerie parallel to Beed incident
While the grisly racket has yet to sink in the minds of the stunned villagers
of Mhaisal, it bears an eerie parallel to that of the female foeticide racket
involving Dr. Sudam Munde and his wife, Dr. Saraswati Munde, in Beed.
A 2010 sting operation conducted by NGO ‘Lek Ladki Abhiyan’ had Munde casually
stating that he fed the abandoned foetuses to dogs. Despite being arrested, he
was released and continued with his nefarious activities, with no apparent
fear of the law.
The then Health Minister, Satish Shetty, had even admitted that a woman civil
surgeon who had gone to investigate the Munde’s hospital, found herself locked
in a room and abused by goons, believed to be Munde’s henchmen.
The couple allegedly wielded great clout in Beed’s Parli Tehsil, where they
ran their clinic, Munde Hospital. It took the death of Vijaymala Petkar in
2012 during a botched termination of her pregnancy, to ‘officially’ blow the
lid off the Munde couple’s infamy.
After weeks on the run, the couple was finally arrested. A local court in Beed
sentenced them to four years of rigorous imprisonment under the Pre-Natal
Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act in 2015.
Thanks To:
racket covering Maharashtra, Karnataka > >
A board with the 'beti bachao beti padhao' slogan greets you as you enter
Sangli district's Mhaisal village on the Maharashtra-Karnataka border.
Incidentally, just a few metres away is the Bharati Hospital of Dr Balasaheb
Khidrapure, the doctor who was arrested for allegedly running an illegal
abortion and female foeticide racket.
Swati Jamdade died on 1 March while undergoing an abortion performed by
Khidrapure. Following Swati's death, her husband Praveen Jamdade was arrested.
During investigation, police found 19 foetuses, some in a state of decay, some
buried under a stream close to the hospital. Gradually, a horrifying tale of
female foeticide unfolded.
On 1 March, Swati had gone to Khidrapure's hospital to undergo sonography,
during which the doctor allegedly revealed the sex of the foetus to the
couple. She later underwent an abortion which caused her death. Suspecting
foul play, Swati's parents lodged a police complaint. Investigation revealed
that she underwent the illegal abortion as the sex of the baby was that of a
girl. A case was registered against Khidrapure, following which he fled the
village. He was later arrested in Belgaum, Karnataka, along with his wife. The
police also found that he had a well-equipped hospital with an operation
theater in the basement of the hospital.
Khidrapure was a homeopath and was legally not allowed to conduct surgeries.
The police suspected a Maharashtra-Karnataka cross-border racket. This led to
the arrest of 12 people till date, three of which, including Khidrapure, are
doctors. Arrested include Dr Shrihari Ghodke (homepath) from Kagwad and Dr
Ramesh Devgikar (MBBS) from Vijapur. These doctors had appointed agents in the
two states who would get cases to the doctors. The patients in Maharashtra
were sent to Karnataka and vice versa to avoid raising suspicion. They also
made sure that the patients undergo tests in four to five different hospitals
before the abortion is conducted. Instead of conducting the abortions in an
operation theatre, a temporary hut would be built where the patient would
undergo surgery and could stay for further treatment. Investigation revealed
that sometimes, in the absence of doctors, the compounder or the nurse would
perform the abortion. After the abortion, they would bury the foetus or flush
it down the toilet with acid or feed it to the dogs. It was only because some
foetuses were put inside plastic bags and buried underground that the entire
racket came to light.
An agent, whose identity remains undisclosed, revealed, "Doctors would charge
Rs 25,000 per abortion. There are times, when the patients would be informed
that it was a female foetus, when it was male, just for the money."
A complaint against Khidrapure was filed last year which had led to a raid by
the officials of the health department, but they now claim that they did not
find anything during the raid. However, this year, another raid was conducted
after the police case was filed, they found that illegal medicines were being
used and that the operation theater was illegal and the doctor had no licence
for years to conduct surgeries.
"We are still investigating the matter. Twelve people have been arrested from
Maharashtra and Karnataka so far. We are investigating their involvement,"
Deputy superintendent of police Deepali Kale, who is investigating the case,
said.
"A raid was conducted on a tip-off. But the official claimed that he did not
find anything, therefore, no action was initiated," Archana Patil, additional
director health services, said.
"Police can initiate action only when there is a criminal angle involved. We
could initiate the probe because of Swati's death. But why aren't the health
officials taking any action? There were more than enough factors that could
have aroused suspicion. But they conducted only one raid and claim to have
found nothing. Everything seems fishy," said a police officer investigating
the case.
But this is not the first such case in Maharashtra. On 18 May, 2012, Vijaymala
Patekar from Beed district died while undergoing an illegal abortion. This led
to the arrest of Dr Sudam and Dr Saraswati Munde. Munde too was accused of
conducting sex determination test a year before his arrest. But he managed to
continue with his practice despite the allegations. Seventeen people were
arrested in connection to this case. And now after five years, trial is still
going on.
Incidentally, Sangli and Beed both happen to be the districts with the lowest
child sex ratios in the state. The sex ratio in Beed has been on a constant
decline since 1991.
CHILD SEX RATIO
Year Beed Sangli
1991 1,000:939 1,000:924
2001 1,000:894 1,000:851
2011 1,000:807 1,000:867
Yearly data collected by the authorities has also shown a rise.
The data on the Maharashtra health department website indicates that sex
determination and female foeticide take place in these districts. Does the
health department wait till a patient dies to investigate the doctor?
"The problem lies in the way cases are registered," said Girish Laad, an
activist working for 'Save the Girl Child' campaign. "We had conducted a
research a few years ago and found that doctors can be charged under
Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act only when the
documents are incomplete or the agency concerned has proof that sex
determination was conducted. There is an easy way out — under-reporting. If
the foetus is female, they simply don't record it, but go ahead with the
abortion," he said.
"Silent observer installed in the machines a few years ago was able to keep a
check to some extent. But doctors found a way out by using old machines which
did not have the equipment installed," he added.
A recent case registered in Daund taluka of Pune district proved this theory
right. Dr Shinde from Phaltan was arrested along with four accomplices in
Yawat village, Daund taluka while conducting a sex determination test. He had
installed the ultrasound machine in a car and would take it to various places.
Police acted on a tip off that led to the arrest.
"We had sent a proposal to the government for the installation of a device
that we have developed called active tracker," said Laad. "This equipment is
like a CCTV camera for ultrasound machines. It is connected to the power
supply and keeps a track of all the sonographies conducted on the machine and
simultaneously sends the data to government officials. But we did not get any
response from the government. Union minister Maneka Gandhi has ordered the
installation of device marked under the 'Beti Bachao' campaign. Few states
like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan are using this technology. But there is no
response from the ministers and officials of Maharashtra. We had even told
them that we will give it for free," he said.
Kiran Moghe, president of Janawadi Mahila Sanghatna, posed a pertinent
question: Why don't the health and revenue department officials, who have the
authority, initiate any action? Why wait for a police complaint? "The PCPNDT
Act is near perfect. There are no loopholes. What we are probably falling
short of is action," she added.
The long pendency of cases is another problem. In Maharashtra, 572 cases were
registered under PCPNDT Act since 2002, of which 26 are decoy cases. Hearing
of almost 55 percent cases is going on. As most cases are registered based on
incomplete documentation, it becomes difficult to prove them in court. Decoy
cases are small in number. According to a Supreme Court judgement, these cases
should reach to a conclusion within six months. This seems far from
possible.
"The mentality needs to change. Moreover, the doctors make a large profit in
these kind of cases and tend to influence patients. Apart from the burden of
dowry, an insecure environment for girls remains a concern for parents.
Probably why it leads to female foeticide. We need to take these issues into
account and focus on the action that can be taken under the PCPNDT Act," said
Moghe.
When the Mhaisal issue was raised in the ongoing Assembly session of
Maharashtra, minister Deepak Sawant announced that a report about the case
will be tabled before the Assembly. The health department has also formed a
committee which will be chaired by the dean of the medical college of Sangli
to help the police investigation. "They will focus on the technical aspects,"
said Patil.
After the Beed and Mhaisal cases came to light, multiple raids were conducted
but these are just temporary measures. The declining sex ratio is alarming.
Awareness drives are being conducted, but the government should play a serious
role to curb such incidences.
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