Docs starve 2-day-old to death, dump body, as they feel 15-yr-old mother would have done the same
Docs starve 2-day-old to death, dump body, as they feel 15-yr-old mother would have done the same
Two gyanaecologists from Pen near Panvel allegedly killed and then dumped the body of a newborn as they believed that the mother would do the same.
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In their statement to the Pen police, the two doctors, Dr Usha Malgaonkar (61), who runs Sita Mai maternity hospital, in Pen and Dr Pramodini Paranjape (55), said, "We had no option, but to kill the baby, who we shall call Baby X, otherwise the 15-year-old unwed mother would have killed the baby." On December 3, the Pen police arrested the duo.
The Incident
On December 2, a pregnant woman admitted at Sita Mai hospital told her husband about a 15-year-old lying in the adjacent bed weeping inconsolably for over two days.
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Acting on a tip off, PI Patil and his team visited the hospital and recorded the statement of the victim and her parents.
'I was raped'
In her statement, the girl said a man raped her at knifepoint a few months ago in an isolated area in Khopoli. The accused was later identified as Rajesh Jogavade, who was arrested on December 5.
In the first week of November, the victim complained of a stomachache and her parents who work in a poultry farm, took her to the Paranjpe nursing home in Khopoli run by Dr Pramodini Paranjpe, who confirmed that the girl was 24 weeks pregnant. She referred the girl to the Sita Mai hospital in Pen on November 29 for an abortion.u00a0
Conspiracy?
On November 29, Dr Malgaonkar and Dr Paranjape allegedly administered some drugs and she went into labour the next day at 9.30 am and delivered a premature girl of 24 weeks.
Her family was asked to pay Rs 6,000 towards hospital charges.
However, the doctors did not show the baby to the mother or her relatives, who when told the infant was alive, wanted to keep her. "The infant wasn't fed for two days and subsequently died,"said Patil.
The doctors then instructed their driver Tulsiram Wagh to wrap the body in a plastic bag and take it to Paranjpe nursing home, where it was dumped in the septic tank.
Said Patil, "Apart from the murder, the doctors committed another crime by aborting a foetus which was over 24 weeks.
A medical practitioner may terminate pregnancy up to 12 weeks of gestation, but when it is between 12 to 20 weeks, the opinion of two registered medical practitioners is required.
Termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks is illegal according to the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971." Yesterday, the Pen police sent the infant and the mother's blood sample for DNA examination.
The accused were produced before the local court and have been sent to police custody until tomorrow.
The police now want to find if the accused had committed any similar crime.
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They will also write to the Medical Council of India to cancel their registration.
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