Fourth baby found abandoned in fortnight

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 14

Less than a week after the Jalandhar Civil Surgeon was transferred following irregularities and negligence found under the PNDT Act, the finding of two male foetuses abandoned in a garbage dump outside a local school on Friday, has reaffirmed the apprehensions that the city is not treating its babies properly.

The case of these five-month old foetuses was the third instance occurred this month where babies/foetuses were found dumped by city residents. The abandonment of babies is also simultaneous with an abnormal rise in the shady activity involving sex determination in the district. In the past fortnight, a man was arrested for dumping his baby girl at Jyoti Chowk and a seven-day-old baby girl was found abandoned at the Kalia Colony, which was later rescued.

In July this year, a newborn girl was also found abandoned in the fields at Rurka Khurd village, near Goraya.

Within a month three scanning centres of the district have also been raided. While teams from Ambala visited the Bhogpur scanning centre in a sex determination case, in a raid at the Kartarpur centre, teams found two touts working in connivance with a Kartarpur doctor to carry out sex determination tests at exorbitant rates.

However, despite the raids and arrests, so far neither the police nor the health authorities have made any revelation about the scale at which such rackets were being run, nor have scanning records from any of these centres being shared so far, though babies continue to end up in dumps.

District Family Welfare Officer Gurmeet Kaur said: “We had lodged an FIR in the Kartarpur case some days ago and have also named both touts and the doctor in it. A notice was also served on the scanning centre on Thursday, which the centre authorities are expected to reply to within five days. A far as further instigation in the case is concerned, that is to be done by the police. The course of investigation will reveal how big the nexus is. While the district authorities concerned has not so far conducted a meeting after the transfer of the Civil Surgeon, once, they do, the matter regarding the seeking of data will also be taken up with the civil authorities.”

Health sources said: “Clearly foeticide and sex determination tests are being carried out by the elite at exorbitant rates since they can afford the price of knowing their baby’s gender. But the poorer populace has been dumping their girl child or unwanted babies in dumps. Both trends are shocking and are on the rise. If action is not taken soon to prevent the same, it might turn into a massive issue.”

Checking issue need of hour: Health sources

Health sources said: “Clearly foeticide and sex determination tests are being carried out by the elite at exorbitant rates since they can afford the price of knowing their baby’s gender. But the poorer populace has been dumping their girl child or unwanted babies in dumps. Both trends are shocking and are on the rise. If action is not taken soon to prevent the same, it might turn into a massive issue.”