INDIA. Mumbai: In a most horrific incident, a fake doctor recently pulled out and cut the female fetus of a pregnant woman to prevent the birth of a girl child at Parli in Beed district, sending shock waves throughout Maharashtra.
The fake “Doctor” Nandkumar Ramling Swami and Prakash Kawale, one of the in-laws of the victim- Saraswati Narayan Waghmode (22), have been arrested and remanded to police custody for seven days by Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Beed. The other two accused are absconding.
While Kawale was arrested from Parli, Swami was arrested from Barshi in Solapur district by the police team comprising Police Sub-Inspector Chand Mendke and constables- Sachin Sanap and Gopinath Dake.
An FIR (No. 144/2022) has been registered with the Sambhaji Nagar police station of Beed district under sections 313,315, 318,34,498 A, 504,506 of the Indian Penal code against Nandkumar Swami, Chhaya Waghmode, the mother-in-law of the victim, Prakash Kawale, her relative and Narayan Waghmode, the husband of the victim. The Superintendent of Police Sunil Jaybhaye told the Transcontinental Times. The teams have been dispatched to trace the absconding accused, he added.
The staff at Sambhaji Nagar police station said that the accused would also be booked under the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994 and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 2021 once a detailed statement of the victim is obtained.
The victim, Saraswati, was married to Narayan Ankush Waghmode in 2020. She gave birth to a girl child in September last year. After that, her in-laws began harassing her. When she again became pregnant this year, her mother-in-law Chhaya insisted that she must have a boy this time or else she should carry out an abortion. Saraswati resisted but was shouted down and beaten up many times, the locals said, adding that she was not allowed to speak to her relatives.
Subsequently, her husband and mother-in-law contacted Nandkumar Swami to carry out a sonography (pre-Natal diagnostic test). The test report is said to have revealed the female foetus. As such, Saraswati’s in-laws began insisting that she must carry out the abortion. However, she refused and consequently was beaten up again.
Saraswati was suffering from a very high fever in the middle of July. As such, Kawale brought Swami home on the evening of July 15. He reportedly administered an injection to give her relief from the fever. However, within a few hours, she began vomiting and had a severe stomach ache. As such, Swami was again called in the wee hours of July 16.
After examining her, Swami advised the family that the situation was aggravated and the fetus would have to be aborted. Although Saraswati resisted, her mother-in-law and her husband held her and made Swami carry out the “surgery” forcibly. He reportedly pulled out the fetus and cut it. He then handed it over to Kawale, who promptly went out to destroy/bury it.
Writhing in pain, Saraswati messaged her brother residing in Pune. The next day her brother rushed to Beed and, after talking with her husband, took her to Pune. Since her pain continued, she was admitted to the Sassoon Hospital, Pune.
After recovering a little bit, Saraswati mustered the courage and complained to Kondhwa police station, Pune. They registered the complaint and transferred it to the Sambhaji Nagar police in Beed.
The said Swami moves with a mobile clinic carrying a portable sonography machine. There are cases related to illegal abortions registered against him at Karmala police station in Solapur and also in Parbhani. He worked as a compounder in Hiremath Hospital, Barshi in Solapur. Subsequently claiming to be a doctor practising alternate medicine, he began doing surgeries. We have been demanding that he be booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act 1999 for a long, Shiv Sena leader Bhausaheb Andhalkar told the Transcontinental Times. Swami also visited Thailand to participate in a medical conference recently.
The incident sparked heavy resentment, and voluntary organizations took out a morcha to the Beed district collector’s office demanding stern action against the accused on Thursday.
Similar incident
In a similar incident, an offence was registered against five persons on charges of illegal abortion and subsequent death of a housewife, Sita alias Shital Ganesh Gade (30), at Bakkarwadi in Pimplner in Gevrai taluka of the same district on June 06. The FIR was registered against her husband Narayan Gade, father-in-law Sundar Gade, brother Narayan Nimbalkar and Anganwadi sevikas-Manish Sanap and Seema. They were booked under provisions of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) Act 1994 and Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 2021.
The victim Shital who was admitted to the District Hospital, died after she suffered heavy bleeding. It was revealed that the deceased, having three daughters and expecting a fourth issue, was a victim of forcible abortion by her in-laws.
A few years back, Dr Sudam Munde and his wife, Dr Saraswati Munde, were convicted in connection with a female foeticide racket. Yet such incidents continue to erupt, giving Beed district the tag of the “district of female foeticide”.
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