Dead foetus found in canal near Hadapsar

Abortion suspected
The police said it might be a case of abortion. "We got a call from the control room about the foetus found near the canal and bridge leading to Sasanenagar," Police Sub-Inspector Harishchandra Nalawade of the Hadapsar police station said. "We immediately reached the spot and took the foetus to Nobel hospital. Prima facie we think that the foetus was thrown in the canal after an abortion."

While quite a few phone calls from different persons were made to the control room, some people also went to the police station to report the discovery of the foetus.u00a0The police said they suspected the abortion was done somewhere in the vicinity and were trying to identify the place.u00a0

"We have sent the foetus to the AFMC hospital for the post-mortem; we are also trying to identify the place where the suspected abortion was carried out in the area," Nalawade said. "We are also looking for the parents."

Legal angle
Varsha Deshpande, convener of the Lek Ladaki Abhiyan, a campaign to stop cases of female foeticide, said, "This case looks like a case of pregnancy of an unmarried girl; we suspect that she must have gone for abortion in a nearby hospital and thrown the foetus at the place. If it is proved that the foetus is more than 20 weeks old, the mother and the doctor who carried out the abortion can be punished under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act. If the mother is a minor, then her parents can be booked under appropriate sections of this act."u00a0