Seven foetuses were found floating in an open drain in Mudalgi town of Karnataka's Belagavi district on Friday, June 24. According to the police, the foetuses were stuffed in boxes and thrown into the drain. The incident came to light after passers-by noticed the boxes floating in the drain near the Mudalgi bus stand and informed the police. District Health Officer (DHO) Mahesh Koni confirmed the incident.
All the foetuses were five to seven months old, the DHO said, according to The New Indian Express. A case would be lodged with the local police station in this regard through the gram panchayat, Koni stated, according to IANS. TNIE reported that a committee is being constituted by the Health Department to investigate the case.
While the sex of the foetuses is yet to be disclosed by the Health Department, reports suggest that the incident is suspected to be a case of prenatal sex determination and female foeticide. According to ANI, DHO Koni said that it was an incident of foetal sex detection and murder. It is illegal to conduct tests to determine the sex of the foetus as per the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act, 1994.
According to The Hindu, local residents saw the foetuses collected under a foot overbridge and reported it to the police, who alerted Health Department officials. The foetuses have reportedly been kept in the mortuary of the local hospital. After a complaint is lodged, they will be taken to the Belagavi Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for conducting tests, Koni said. A special team will be formed to investigate the matter after bringing it to the notice of the district commissioner, he added.
Following the incident, the Karnataka government carried out raids at local hospitals and have sealed two, the Venkateshwara Maternity hospital and Scanning Centre, and Navajeevana hospital. Investigations have revealed that the foetuses were aborted about three years ago at the hospital, IANS reported. As per the report, Dr Veena Kanakareddy, attached to Venkateshwara Maternity hospital, has confessed to the crime. She reportedly told authorities that the foetuses were preserved in the hospital in canisters. They were handed over to the staff for disposal fearing raids by the authorities. The staff had dumped the foetuses kept in bottles into the open drain on the night of June 23. The incident came to light on June 24. The authorities conducted raids on 6 hospitals following the incident.
With IANS inputs
Watch: Agnipath protests are a sign of India's unemployment crisis: