Mystery shrouds recovery of fetuses in Gujarat village

Palanpur(Gujarat), Oct 17 (IANS) Mystery shrouds the recovery of four fetuses wrapped in plastic bags from a village canal in Gujarat's Banaskantha district.

The police, who recovered the bags from a canal in Rasana village, 26 km from here and 140 km from Ahmedabad, were initially cagey about confirming the news until late Friday evening.

'Yes, we found four foetuses near Rasana,' U.R. Thakore, Police Inspector Deesa (Rural), told reporters.

K. S. Patel, Chief District Health officer (CDHO) of Banaskantha, also confirmed the news and said: 'I came to know about the incident only when the block health officer of Deesa M.R. Jirani brought it to my notice.'

He said the recovered fetuses could be those abnormal ones that gynaecologists generally keep for display and later dispose off.

'These fetuses might have been thrown as biological waste. It does not look like a case of female foeticide,' the CDHO said, adding the doctor or person concerned does not seem to have followed the proper legal procedure of disposing off.

'At least the police should have been informed,' Patel added.

However, the police are tight-lipped about the incident and did not reveal the gender of the fetuses.

If their gender is identified as female, this could be a major blow to the state government's much touted 'Save Girl Child' campaign.