Minor girl in TN, raped and tortured to be an egg donor for five years

Investigation into the case of a forced sale of a minor girl’s oocyte in Erode district in Tamil Nadu revealed that the 16-year-old girl was raped, tortured and forced to sell her oocyte at least eight times in the last five years to different fertility centres and hospitals in the state and Kerala.

“During the course of the police investigation, it was found that the minor girl was forced to sell her oocyte in Erode, Salem, Hosur and surrounding areas. But, now it looks like the girl was taken to other places outside the state as well, however, the details cannot be revealed now since the victim is a minor,” an official associated with the state health department told The Federal.

On Sunday (June 6), a six-member team from the directorate of medical and rural health services began their probe into the incident at Erode. The team headed by the joint director of medical and rural health services, A Viswanathan, met the girl victim at a home and took her statement. Based on her statement, on Monday, the team inquired at two private hospitals in Erode and two private hospitals in Salem.

The team is likely to visit Hosur and other fertility centres before submitting a report to the state government. A Viswanathan told  reporters that they will cancel the license of the hospital if they find any involvement on the part of the establishment and they would take action against the doctors if they were found to be hand-in-glove with the perpetrators of this racket.

The incident of forging the minor girl’s age and selling her oocyte came to light after the 16-year-old girl fled from her house at Erode and took refuge at her friend’s house in Salem. Subsequently, after her parents reached out to her and again tortured her to sell her eggs, she, with the help of her relatives, filed a complaint with the police.

Also read: Botched-up abortion reveals huge sex determination racket in TN’s Dharmapuri district

Investigation revealed that the girl had been forced to sell her eggs at least eight times since 2017.

“Ever since the girl attained puberty, she was forced to sell eggs. To keep her sexually active, according to the girl, her mother’s paramour  sexually harassed her initially and later raped her several times in the last five years,” an official privy to the investigation told The Federal.

The FIR copy accessed by The Federal also confirmed that the girl was raped several times in the last five years. The girl has been sexually injured and has been treated for the same, a police official said.

Since the girl was a minor, her name and age proof in the Aadhaar were forged with the help of an intermediary, Malathi, who along with the girl’s mother took the minor girl to the fertility centers, police said.

According to the police, the girl’s father left her when she was three-years-old. Her mother S Indirani has been living with A Syed Ali for the last 13 years.

“Indirani was a habitual egg donor in the region. It was Indirani who dragged her daughter into this racket through Malathi. But, since she was a minor, Syed Ali took advantage of it and harassed her and raped her several times,” the police said.

Police have already registered a case under section 5(I),(m),(n) (aggravated penetrative sex) read with other sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 along with IPC sections 420(cheating) 506(ii) (criminal intimidation) and Section 34 and 35 of the Aadhaar (targeted) Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies Benefits and Services Act, 2016.

All the three people, namely the girl’s mother Indirani, her paramour Syed Ali and the intermediary Malathi were arrested, and remanded under the judicial custody in Salem Central Prison.