Acupuncturist Shihabudeen, who had allegedly attended to a woman who passed away during childbirth, along with the newborn baby in Thiruvananthapuram, was arrested by the Nemom police on Friday, February 23. He has been charged under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 315 (act done with intent to prevent child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth) and 316 (causing death of quick unborn child by act amounting to culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code, said an officer at the Nemom police station. Although reports said that the husband of the deceased woman, Nayas, who was also booked for her death, tried to attack Shihabudeen at the Nemom police station, the officer denied to TNM of any such incident taking place.
Nayas, who had reportedly forced his wife, Sameera Beevi, to undergo the delivery at home by watching YouTube tutorials, was taken into custody following her death, along with the baby. The couple has three children, all of whom were reportedly born after cesarean operations. However, Nayas would not allow any hospital visits while Sameera was pregnant with the fourth child, and insisted that the birth take place at home. The only treatment he allegedly allowed was acupuncture, and Shihabudeen was the only specialist to see her during this time.
On February 20, when Sameera went into labour, she was assisted by Nayas’s first wife and their daughter, who was a student of acupuncture. More than two hours later Sameera had begun to bleed profusely and passed out. Although she was rushed to a hospital, doctors there declared her dead on arrival.
More than a month earlier, Sameera and Nayas were advised to see a doctor by concerned neighbours, the ward councillor and even the police. However Nayas paid no heed to any of it and went on insisting on having the delivery at home.
Read: Kerala woman, baby die after husband forces her to undergo home birth with acupuncture