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Sangli female foeticide horror: State govt sends team for investigation; Pankaja Munde calls it 'heinous crime'

Maharashtra government has sent three local officials and two officials from Pune to investigate the matter, who will submit a report on Monday.

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The Maharashtra government on Monday sent a team of five people from the health department, after at least nineteen aborted female foetuses were found dumped.

Sangli police, while investigating the death of a 26-year-old woman following the medical termination of pregnancy (MTP), unearthed remains of 19 female foetuses, some 500 metres from Mhaisal village near Miraj in Sangli district.

The case is a shocking reminder of India's preference for the male child despite high profile government campaigns like 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' (Save the girl child).

"So far we have found the remains of 19 foetuses and the samples have been sent to the lab to ascertain the gender. The doctor, Babasaheb Khidrapure, is absconding. The procedure was being carried out at Bharti Hospital in Mhaisal," said Sangli SP Dattatray Shinde.

The woman's husband, identified as Praveen Patangrao Jamdade is under arrest. Babasaheb Khidrapure​, the homoeopath accused of carrying out the procedures is currently absconding. 

Three local officials and two officials from Pune have been sent to investigate the matter who will submit a report on Monday. 

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Women and Child Welfare Minister Pankaja Munde condemned the heinous crime. "This matter is heinous condemnable. The issue of save daughters needs support from parents too. Parents should be motivated to support their children irrespective of child's gender," she said.

"The hospital where the medical termination was carried out was not registered under the Nursing Home Act. There were two rooms in the basement area where the termination of pregnancies were carried out without anybody's knowledge. It is not MTP registered centre as per the records," said Dr Satish Pawar, director, Health Services, Maharashtra.

He said that the state government will act once the five-member investigative team submits its report.

"There are three Acts that have been violated - the Nursing Home Act, the MTP Act and the PCPNDT Act. According to the guideline of the Medical Council of India (MCI) which is the appellate body, the homeopath doctors are not allowed to practice allopathic medicines and carry out such procedures," added Dr Jayshree Mehta, President, MCI.

Meanwhile activist and lawyer Varsha Deshpande and National Inspection and Monitoring Committee member  for PCPNDT Act, Health and Family Welfare  Ministry, Govt of India, came down heavily on the administration.

"It is their job to monitor the clinics and ensure quacks don't perform such procedures. What are the committees doing if they are not aware of the presence of such facilities?" she asked.

She added that it could also be a cross border issue as the implementation of pre-natal testing is fairly stringent in Maharashtra as compared to Karnataka. "While the testing generally takes place in Karnataka, the MTP is carried out in Maharashtra as the monitoring of MTP is not very stringent here," she explained.

Not a place for girls?

⇒ Maharashtra's sex ratio is 929 females for every 1000 males, below the national average of 940

⇒​ The child sex ratio is an alarming 894 while the national average too is a low 919

Source: Census 2011

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