Police arrested and released a 35-year-old man in Mumbai in connection with a sensitive query posted on online health platform Practo, in which he asked whether he could have impregnated a 10-year-old girl by ejaculating on her vagina. Siddarth Karath was arrested on Saturday, a week after an FIR was registered at the Puttenahalli Police Station in Bengaluru by officials of Practo on November 10. "He was arrested in Pant Nagar police station limits in Mumbai in connection with the query he had posted on Practo,” said Annamalai K, DCP, Bengaluru South.
“But without any evidence to link him to a crime we have released him," the official added. His release was formalised later in the same day.
Siddarth, a resident of Pune, had fled to Mumbai after police began a search for him on the basis of the self-incriminating query he anonymously posted on Practo on November 7. “I ejaculated on the vagina on a virgin (10-year-old) who has not yet hit puberty. Is there any possibility of pregnancy? If yes, what is the way to avoid? (Sic),” the query read. The query was received by Dr Sweta Singh, a gynecologist in Greater Noida who immediately alerted Practo and police officials in Greater Noida about the incident.
Siddarth told police officials that he had posted the query “out of curiosity.” "He told us that he was curious and wanted to know. We went through his browser history and found related links. He is unmarried and living in Pune and there does not appear to be any crime committed," said a police official investigating the incident.
The National Commission for Child Rights (NCPCR) had also written to police officials in Bengaluru and Greater Noida to investigate the query made on Practo. The Commission had also asked the police to investigate whether there was any delay by Practo in informing the police and cooperating with them in the investigation. However, the police concluded that Practo had promptly filed a complaint and cooperated with the police during the course of the investigation.