It was an offer gynaecologist Tushar Shrikant Mangeshikar could only have refused. Upset by the delivery of a girl child, the in-laws of a woman asked him to keep the mother and baby as a tradeoff for the medical expenses.
A shocked Mangeshikar lodged a police complaint against the in-laws. When contacted by
DNA, the family refused to talk.
On December 20, Priyanka Wakchaure, 23, was admitted to a nursing home run by Mangeshikar. She gave birth to a healthy baby the same day. But the child’s sex reportedly upset her in-laws so much that they told the doctor to keep the mother and child with him in lieu of hospital dues amounting to Rs20,000.
According to Mangeshikar, the in-laws — particularly father-in-law Ganpat Wakchaure — were terribly upset at the delivery of the girl and blamed both him and Priyanka. Priyanka’s 26-year old husband Sameer was a mute spectator to the drama, Mangeshikar said.
“I tried to convince them that a doctor can’t decide the gender of the baby,” the doctor said. “It is determined by the father’s chromosomes, not those of the mother. But they refused to understand.” Mangeshikar said the in-laws simply refused to clear the bill, besides taunting him.
“They were about to leave the baby and Priyanka at my hospital,” he said. “It took a lot of effort on my part to convince them to take them home.”
According to the doctor, he wasn’t keen to register a complaint initially but decided on it when the family paid just Rs10,000. “I delayed lodging the complaint because I thought this will make Priyanka’s life more difficult,” he explained. “But when they started threatening me, I registered the complaint with the Gamdevi police and informed the Dongri police too as the Wakchaures live there.”
Inspector Sudhir Mali of the Gamdevi police station confirmed receiving a written complaint from Mangeshikar but said no first information report had been filed yet. “We are investigating the matter,” he said. “If the in-laws are found guilty, action will be taken.”
Mangeshikar, who is also associated with the Breach Candy Hospital and St Elizabeth Hospital at Walkeshwar, said he decided to register the complaint not to recover his money but to teach the Wakchaures a lesson.
“All I pray is for the mental peace and security of Priyanka and the baby,” he said. “Her in-laws’ behaviour forced Priyanka to feel guilty for having given birth to a girl.”
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