In Kolhapur, three people were taken into custody on Thursday for operating an illegal abortion and sex determination ring in the area. The main defendant, D B Patil, ran a lab in Budhwar Peth in addition to two clinics in Phulewadi and Jotiba. Patil was accused of engaging in unlawful practices using sex determination testing and executing abortions without the required consent. Additionally, the police were confirming the legitimacy of the degrees and educational credentials on display at Patil’s clinics.
The two other people who were detained were Patil’s agents, Gajendra alias Sunny Bapusaheb Kusale and Bajarang Shirpati Jambhilkar. Kusale had been evading capture until this arrest and was also wanted in relation to a similar case from the previous year. On Wednesday, the police launched a sting operation after receiving a tip. As a ruse, they dispatched a female police officer to one of Patil’s clinics. In exchange for five abortion pills, Patil allegedly demanded an upfront payment of Rs 35,000 and an additional Rs 15,000 the next day during the procedure.
The police and civic health department authorities raided Patil’s clinics and laboratory on Thursday. They confiscated a supply of abortion pills and a portable sonography machine. During the raid, other medical supplies, including as medications, injections, and intravenous fluids, were discovered in one of Patil’s vehicles. When the police tried to reach Patil during the raid, he first claimed to be in Pune, but they were able to track his phone and find that he was in fact at the laboratory with Kusale. The sonography machine was discovered in Jambhilkar’s hands after being concealed in a sack.
The three have been charged under various provisions of the Medical Practitioners Act, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Indian Penal Code). The Pre-Conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques Act, which forbids sex determination and pregnancy termination depending on the fetus’s sex, is another law under which they are accused. A court remanded the suspects in police custody until Monday as the inquiry proceeded after a formal complaint was filed against them.
This case brings to light the persistent problem of dangerous and unlawful abortion methods, as well as the abuse of medical technology, such as sonography, for determining a person’s sex. These practices are prohibited in India by a number of laws designed to safeguard women’s health and stop discrimination based on gender.
SOURCE :
TIMES OF INDIA
