Fourth foetus found in Jaipur

Jaipur, March 31 (IANS) Another foetus was recovered from a dustbin here Saturday taking the total number of foetuses recovered in the city to four over the past five days, police said.

The foetus was recovered a day after the Rajasthan High Court summoned Jaipur's Commissioner of Police B.L. Soni and sought explanation over action taken in the cases of female foeticide and infanticide.

Some passers-by informed the police in the afternoon that a foetus was lying in a dustbin in Jalupura area.

"The foetus was not fully developed, so it is difficult to ascertain its sex. However it seems that it is of a girl. Postmortem examination will be carried out Sunday and only after that the sex will be confirmed," said a police officer.

The Rajasthan High Court had summoned the police commissioner after recovery of the bodies of two newly-born girls from the posh colonies in the city Tuesday and Wednesday. Another foetus of a boy had been recovered from the Sindhi Camp bus stand Thursday.

The police commissioner had told the court that an investigation has been launched in the cases related to recovery of the infant girls' bodies. He also told the court that First Information Reports (FIRs) will be registered under section 302 of Indian Penal Code for homicide.

Rajasthan has been in the news due to increasing cases of female foeticide and infanticide.

Poverty, ignorance about family planning and high dowry have been reported as the possible causes for this crime.

According to Census 2011, Rajasthan has 883 girls in the age of 0-6 for every 1,000 boys. The child sex ratio in 2001 was 909.

Alarmed over the skewed sex ratio, the state government recently announced steps to curb pre-natal sex determination tests at ultrasound clinics.

The steps include increasing the number of health department inspection teams and equipping them with devices like hidden cameras and voice recorders.

The government has also announced Rs.1 lakh to any person who complains about errant ultrasound clinics.

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