Activists pick holes in chargesheet

A day after the Beed police filed a 1500-page chargesheet in the case against tainted doctor couple Sudam and Saraswati Munde and 15 others in the death of one Vijaymala Patekar, who died during an illegal abortion, activists said that the chargesheet was deliberately watered down.

The Mundes are alleged to have conducted illegal sex-determination tests in connivance with Jalgaon’s
Dr Rahul Kolhe, besides carrying out illegal abortions at their hospital in Beed. While some of the accused abetted them in these activities, the others mentioned in the chargesheet helped the couple while they were on the run.

Founder of NGO Lek Ladki Abhiyan, Varsha Deshpande, who had conducted a sting operation and exposed the Mundes in 2010, said that the chargesheet was filed with no application of mind and was not legally sound.

“Firstly, the Ambejogai sessions court had recommended a CBI inquiry into the case, why wasn’t this done? Why was the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1980, not applied here? The chargesheet makes no mention of the anaesthetist involved in the case. Shockingly, while Sudam Munde conducted several illegal abortions, not even a single woman who underwent abortions, has been made a witness in the case,” said Deshpande.

The fact that Munde had property worth several crores of rupees was also not mentioned in the chargesheet, she alleged. “We will be starting statewide agitations against this deliberate watering down of the chargesheet in the Munde case, so that he is not let off easily. We will demand a CBI inquiry into the case, besides charging the accused under MCOCA and revision of charges against Munde,” she added.

Beed superintendent of police, Dattatray Mandlik, refuted the allegations saying that a series of discussions with legal experts was held before filing the chargesheet.

“We have built a watertight case based on the evidences that we have. Instead of focusing on hearsay, we have ensured that our charges do not fall flat by gathering evidence,” he said.

Meanwhile, a miffed sub-divisional police officer Swati Bhor, who is investigating the case, said that it was easy to blame the investigating officers.

“For a case to be filed under MCOCA, there are some legal requirements such as history of past cases. Technically, this case did not fit the bill. There is a clear mention of involvement of Dr Rahul Kolhe in the case. As far as making women who underwent abortions witnesses in the case, none of the women are coming forward to testify or even accept that they underwent an illegal abortion,” said Bhor.

When asked why no mention of Munde’s property was made in the chargesheet, Bhor said that it had no connection with the case of Vijaymala Patekar’s death.