‘Abortion pills’ kill TN teenager; male relative, quack arrested
According to doctors at governnment hospital in Tiruvannamalai, the girl was four months pregnant and she died hours after consuming the ‘abortion pills’
Amid the abortion ban controversy in the US, and the corresponding Indian law coming in for praise for being progressive, a botched abortion in Tamil Nadu has claimed the life of a minor girl.
State police has booked three persons including a quack and arrested two of them following the death of a 15-year-old girl after taking abortion pills handed out by a quack in a village in Tiruvannamalai distict. The arrested persons were identified as S Murugan(27) and his friend C Sathish(27) of Thanipadi in Tiruvannamalai district.
Also read: Botched-up abortion reveals huge sex determination racket in TN’s Dharmapuri district
A couple of days ago, when the teenager was heading home near Thanipadi, she reportedly fainted on the road. Passersby admitted her to a nearby government hospital (GH), where the girl was declared ‘brought dead’.
Doctors found that the minor girl was pregnant and alerted the local police. Police investigation revealed that the girl was in a relationship with Murugan, her distant relative. “Murugan, who was an auto driver, used to drop the girl off at the Government High School everyday. He raped her and, after she became pregnant, he took her, with the help of Sathish, to a 65-year-old quack called Gandhi,” said K Annadurai, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Tiruvannamalai Rural Sub-Division. “The quack administered the abortion pills to her.”
Repeat offender
According to the doctors at the GH, the girl was four months pregnant and she died hours after consuming the ‘abortion pills’. Investigations revealed that the girl had been briefly pregnant a year ago as well. “Then too, the duo had taken the girl to the same quack and managed to abort the foetus. But last time she was two months pregnant whereas this time the girl was four months pregnant,” Annadurai said.
Probe revealed that Gandhi had been prescribing medicines illegally to people in the area. “But, we are yet to confirm whether she has been performing the illegal abortion or just prescribing medicines to the couples,” sources privy to the investigation said.
According to sources in Tiruvannamalai police, the quack Gandhi’s husband worked in a private hospital in Chennai. “She had also accompanied him to Chennai, when her husband was working in a hospital. After he died, Gandhi moved to Tiruvannamalai and has been prescribing medicines illegally,” the sources said.
Third arrest soon
Police have booked Murugan, Sathish and Gandhi under various charges including Sections 5 and 6 of the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act and Section 312 (Voluntarily causes a women with child to miscarry), Section 314(Cause the miscarriage of a women with child, does any act which causes the death of such woman) and Section 315 (Before the birth of any child, does any act with the intention of thereby preventing that child from being born alive) of the Indian Penal Code and arrestd Murugan and Sathish.
“Gandhi is suffering from age-related ailments and she is under treatment. Once she recovers, we will investigate her and possibly arrest her,” Annadurai said.
