Medico convicted for female foeticide commits suicide

A woman doctor on Monday allegedly committed suicide on the court premises here soon after she was sentenced to one-year imprisonment on charges of carrying out pre-natal sex determination tests.

According to police, Dr Laxmi Garg of Garg Maternity Centre, Rampura Phul consumed some poisonous substance immediately after coming out of the court and fell
unconscious. She was taken to hospital but the doctor declared her brought dead.

District and Sessions Judge Kuldeep Singh had held her guilty under the PNDT Act and sentenced her to one year in jail. Police rounded up her husband -- Dr Krishan Gopal, who was accompanying her, for enquiry but released him after three hours.

A case was registered against Laxmi in 2001 and she was booked under various sections of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, and the Bio Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998.

Police had presented the chargesheet in 2003 at Rampura Phul Court and she was sentenced to two and a half year imprisonment in March 2009. An appeal was made to the District and Sessions Judge who reduced the punishment from two and a half year to one year and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on her.

Meanwhile, a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the suicide incident.