Police
case registered in female foeticide Case after perusal by
Hoshiarpur : It took nine
months, a complaint from a social activist followed by instructions from Punjab
State Human Rights Commission and a concerted campaign against female foeticide
by media, that law could finally catch up with a Mahilpur nursing home, accused
of carrying out illegal abortions. Mahilpur police on Thursday, based on a memo
received from Hoshiarpur civil surgeon, finally registered a case against
Manmeet Kaur of Awtar Nursing Home under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.
The civil Surgeon wrote the
memo after the Punjab State Human Rights Commission instructed the concerned
authorities to register a case after it found that a prima facie case was made
out for proceeding
under section 12 of the Human Rights Act, 1993.
Last year in June-July ,
TOI had highlighted how a minister in the previous Congress government and a Congress MLA were protecting the guilty and
initimidating doctors of the raiding team not to carry out legal action against
the nursing home, Parvinder Singh, a Nawanshahr based social activist, had then
filed a complaint with the national and state human rights commissions, urging
them to look into the matter
On June 7, 2005 a
seven-member medical team had made a surprise visit to the residence of one
Nandini Chawla of village Kot Fathui, who had claimed that a doctor at Awtar
nursing home had put a tube into her uterus, a procedure usually adopted to
induce an illegal abortion. The medical report of Nandini had also revealed
that a catheter had been deliberately put into the uterus of Nandini Chawla
in order to induce an abortion. According to report, Dr. Manmeet Kaur has fled
from the hospital and the police are conducting raids to nab her.