The Coimbatore district magistrate court, on Saturday, granted bail to ‘Healer’ Baskar, who was arrested on August 2 on charges of cheating and attempting to commit a crime.

Speaking to TNM, an investigating officer said, “The judge has ordered Baskar to come in person to Kuniyamuthur station every day for the next 30 days and sign the register. No other conditions have been imposed on the accused.”

‘Healer’ Baskar was arrested after his organisation, Nistai International Training Centre in Kovaipudur, Coimbatore, advertised a one-day training camp for pregnant women  to give birth without going to a hospital. The organisers claimed that it was a free one-day counselling session, where pregnant women will be taught how to give birth safely in their homes without medicines, vaccines, blood tests, doctor visits or scans. It claimed that this was the best way to give birth. The advertisement also said that the camp will have experts on the panel, who will advise the participants.

This advertisement led to representatives of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the district health department officers to take cognisance of the matter and file separate complaints with the district collector.

The Deputy Director of Health, Banumathi, had said that undertaking home births without the supervision of competent medical personnel is dangerous and Baskar was helping propagate this dangerous trend.

The police then took Baskar and Srinivasan, who is the manager of the training centre, into custody and both were remanded for 14 days.

The police had also submitted a note to the concerned officials to shut down the 4-year-old training centre on the grounds of causing public nuisance.

Post this arrest, the state health department issued strict orders to all the district officials to monitor the happenings in their territories to avoid mishaps from happening.

A few days ago, a 28-year-old pregnant woman in Tirupur died due to post-delivery complications after giving birth to a baby girl in a house. It has been alleged that the couple had chosen to give birth to the child in the confines of a home, after watching videos on the internet.