Bhubaneswar (Orissa in India), SVM News, August 1, 2007: Orissa police again recovered at least 14 foetuses from a drain behind the Bhubaneswar Diagnostic and Ultrasound Clinic here on July 31.
The clinic is located in the posh Forest Park locality, about 300 metres away from the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Police came to know of the foetuses after they were informed about it by members of a local youth club who noticed the jars lying behind the clinic on Tuesday evening.
"It is really shocking that foeticide is taking place in such a scale in the Capital city," a local resident said to the Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) News Service.
The foetuses, kept in plastic jars, were taken by the health authorities for examination. Chief Medical Officer of the Capital Hospital Loknath Acharya said the sex of the foetuses would be known only after examination.
Two staff members of the diagnostic centre were taken into custody for questioning, Khurda Superintendent of Police Amitav Thakur said. A doctor at the clinic fled when the police reached the spot. The clinic was sealed.
"Doctors running private clinic sometimes keep foetuses for experiment, but the manner of disposal by those running the diagnostic centre certainly raises suspicion," a district official said to the SVM News.
The discovery comes close on the heels of the female foeticide scandal in Nayagarh district where more than 150 fetuses, all believed to be female have been discovered in the last two weeks.
At least eight persons, including two doctors, have been arrested in connection with the Nayagarh case so far. Arrest of several other doctors was likely.
Meanwhile, the police and health authorities continued raids on nursing homes and diagnostic centres in different parts of the State. A number of nursing homes and ultrasound clinics have already been sealed.
Hundreds of women marched in Bhubaneswar to protest the growing number of cases of abortions and infanticides. They carried banners reading "hang the murderers" and "spare the girls" and called on the government to do more to crack down on illegal clinics that do the abortions or provide illegal ultrasounds.
The opposition Congress party has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and want the chief minister to resign for what they term his failure in checking the crime, as he holds the health department as a cabinet minister.
Earlier in the day, activists of the ABVP, the students wing of BJP, the central opposition party organised a signature campaign against female foeticide and infanticide by putting up a large banner near Rama Devi Women's College of the city. Hundreds of students put their signature on the banner to protest against female foeticide in the State.
"This is a dangerous situation and, if it continues, there will be the extinction of female children," lamented T. Sabitha Swaraj, president of the All India Council of Christian Women, which is part of the National Council of Churches in India said.
"The callousness in allowing female feticide is worsening. Parents have no qualms about aborting female foetuses," Jyotsna Patro, former president of the Church of North India Women's Fellowship said. "No amount of legislation is going to improve the situation unless the deep-rooted prejudice against the girl child is changed. Unless the parents want this to stop, it cannot happen," she continued.
"India is being called as 'Bharat Matha (Mother India)'. There is no word in the universe greater than 'mother', except God. Such a precious personality, mother, is the fullness of a woman. According the Indian ethics, woman is the synonym of all prosperities. Then how can we kill a baby girl? Stop the killing," Paul Ciniraj, the Director of Salem Voice Ministries said in a statement.
"It is a big sin and a curse from God to abort a child, whether it is a female or a male. They have right to live in this world. They are tomorrow's promises from God to the family, the community, the nation and the universe," he added. "According the Christian Scripture, every human being is created in the image of God. It is certainly a persecution, if we kill a baby, an innocent being of God's image," Paul Ciniraj continued.
As far as Christianity in India is concerned, women church leaders have said that some Christians are also guilty of female feticide.
In December, the Indian government acknowledged the gravity of female feticide when Renuka Chowdhury, the minister for women and child development, admitted that more than 10 million girls had been killed over the last 20 years due to female feticide and infanticide. "Who has killed these girl children? Their own parents," Chowdhury told a seminar in Delhi.
Female children are seen in many tribal areas as a hindrance and many girl babies are simply taken to remote areas and left to die. Boys are also traditionally preferred in many areas of the country as the main workers in the family and because parents often have to pay large dowries to marry off daughters.
Last December, a new report by UNICEF indicated 7,000 fewer female babies are born every day because parents can determine the sex of their unborn baby and kill her before birth. In 80 percent of India's districts, a higher percentage of boys are born now than a decade ago.
UNICEF says the resulting gender imbalance from sex selection abortions is particularly prevalent in the wealthier regions of the nation where access to the ultrasound technology easier. UNICEF based the findings on Indian census data and they follow a report in early 2006 from the British medical journal Lancet, which estimated that 10 million baby girls have probably been aborted in the last 20 years.
The results show that a 1994 law prohibiting the use of ultrasounds to determine the sex of a baby for non-medical reasons is not working, even though the Indian government has announced several recent arrests in a renew effort to enforce the law.
Some Indian states such as Punjab and Haryana face male-female ratios as low as 799 girls born for every 1,000 boys.
The clinic is located in the posh Forest Park locality, about 300 metres away from the residence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Police came to know of the foetuses after they were informed about it by members of a local youth club who noticed the jars lying behind the clinic on Tuesday evening.
"It is really shocking that foeticide is taking place in such a scale in the Capital city," a local resident said to the Salem Voice Ministries (SVM) News Service.
The foetuses, kept in plastic jars, were taken by the health authorities for examination. Chief Medical Officer of the Capital Hospital Loknath Acharya said the sex of the foetuses would be known only after examination.
Two staff members of the diagnostic centre were taken into custody for questioning, Khurda Superintendent of Police Amitav Thakur said. A doctor at the clinic fled when the police reached the spot. The clinic was sealed.
"Doctors running private clinic sometimes keep foetuses for experiment, but the manner of disposal by those running the diagnostic centre certainly raises suspicion," a district official said to the SVM News.
The discovery comes close on the heels of the female foeticide scandal in Nayagarh district where more than 150 fetuses, all believed to be female have been discovered in the last two weeks.
At least eight persons, including two doctors, have been arrested in connection with the Nayagarh case so far. Arrest of several other doctors was likely.
Meanwhile, the police and health authorities continued raids on nursing homes and diagnostic centres in different parts of the State. A number of nursing homes and ultrasound clinics have already been sealed.
Hundreds of women marched in Bhubaneswar to protest the growing number of cases of abortions and infanticides. They carried banners reading "hang the murderers" and "spare the girls" and called on the government to do more to crack down on illegal clinics that do the abortions or provide illegal ultrasounds.
The opposition Congress party has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation and want the chief minister to resign for what they term his failure in checking the crime, as he holds the health department as a cabinet minister.
Earlier in the day, activists of the ABVP, the students wing of BJP, the central opposition party organised a signature campaign against female foeticide and infanticide by putting up a large banner near Rama Devi Women's College of the city. Hundreds of students put their signature on the banner to protest against female foeticide in the State.
"This is a dangerous situation and, if it continues, there will be the extinction of female children," lamented T. Sabitha Swaraj, president of the All India Council of Christian Women, which is part of the National Council of Churches in India said.
"The callousness in allowing female feticide is worsening. Parents have no qualms about aborting female foetuses," Jyotsna Patro, former president of the Church of North India Women's Fellowship said. "No amount of legislation is going to improve the situation unless the deep-rooted prejudice against the girl child is changed. Unless the parents want this to stop, it cannot happen," she continued.
"India is being called as 'Bharat Matha (Mother India)'. There is no word in the universe greater than 'mother', except God. Such a precious personality, mother, is the fullness of a woman. According the Indian ethics, woman is the synonym of all prosperities. Then how can we kill a baby girl? Stop the killing," Paul Ciniraj, the Director of Salem Voice Ministries said in a statement.
"It is a big sin and a curse from God to abort a child, whether it is a female or a male. They have right to live in this world. They are tomorrow's promises from God to the family, the community, the nation and the universe," he added. "According the Christian Scripture, every human being is created in the image of God. It is certainly a persecution, if we kill a baby, an innocent being of God's image," Paul Ciniraj continued.
As far as Christianity in India is concerned, women church leaders have said that some Christians are also guilty of female feticide.
In December, the Indian government acknowledged the gravity of female feticide when Renuka Chowdhury, the minister for women and child development, admitted that more than 10 million girls had been killed over the last 20 years due to female feticide and infanticide. "Who has killed these girl children? Their own parents," Chowdhury told a seminar in Delhi.
Female children are seen in many tribal areas as a hindrance and many girl babies are simply taken to remote areas and left to die. Boys are also traditionally preferred in many areas of the country as the main workers in the family and because parents often have to pay large dowries to marry off daughters.
Last December, a new report by UNICEF indicated 7,000 fewer female babies are born every day because parents can determine the sex of their unborn baby and kill her before birth. In 80 percent of India's districts, a higher percentage of boys are born now than a decade ago.
UNICEF says the resulting gender imbalance from sex selection abortions is particularly prevalent in the wealthier regions of the nation where access to the ultrasound technology easier. UNICEF based the findings on Indian census data and they follow a report in early 2006 from the British medical journal Lancet, which estimated that 10 million baby girls have probably been aborted in the last 20 years.
The results show that a 1994 law prohibiting the use of ultrasounds to determine the sex of a baby for non-medical reasons is not working, even though the Indian government has announced several recent arrests in a renew effort to enforce the law.
Some Indian states such as Punjab and Haryana face male-female ratios as low as 799 girls born for every 1,000 boys.
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