A strong case against female foeticide was brought to light on July 31 this year, when a team of officials from the Health department acted on secret information and raided the premises of Jattinder Ghambhir Hospital on Pakhowal Road, where the abortion of a female foetus was allegedly in progress.

Four months on, the police are still grappling to gather more evidence against the accused in order to strengthen the case. Though the Health department had made a strong case against the accused when it handed over the case to the police, justice, according to health officials, is still far from achieved.

“Conviction in such cases is still less. There has to be concrete evidence to prove the crime of the accused. But in such cases, even the victim (the pregnant woman who willingly undergoes abortion of female foetus) is also one of the accused,” said Bhupinder Singh, DSP, Sarabha Nagar Police station, who is heading the investigations into the case against Dr APS Ghambhir and his wife Dr Jattinder Ghambhir of Jattinder Ghambhir Hospital.

He, however, added that the police now have sufficient evidence to prove the crime. “We checked some more records in the hospital yesterday and have also seized the ultrasound machine. The accused are, however, not cooperating in the investigations as they have not disclosed certain facts. But one thing that is certain is that illegal abortion had taken place there, as proved by what the woman undergoing the abortion told the health department team and the MLR (Medical Legal Report) of the Civil Hospital. Besides, there was no entry of her name anywhere, making it more clear that there was something fishy going on there at the time,” Singh said.

Dr Rina Sandhu, district family welfare officer, who was part of the team which raided the hospital, said the case holds importance for the department because if the crime is proved, it will atleast create fear in the minds of the people who take this terrible step.

“The woman in this case had herself told us that she had had two daughters and had got the sex determination of the foetus conducted at Jattinder Ghambhir hospital a week before the day when she was caught by us,” Dr Sandhu said.

She added that the problem exists in various socio economic groups for different set of reasons. “The psyche of the people in

Punjab is still replete with the ‘male child norm’. Due to financial constraints, many families decide to terminate the pregnancy if the baby is a girl,” she said.

Interestingly, in the wake of investigations in the case, the owners of the hospital have now changed the name of the hospital to Angat Superspeciality Hospital.

While Dr APS Ghambhir has been released on bail after the histopathology report said the placenta was 9-12 weeks old, his wife Dr Jattinder Ghambhir has applied for anticipatory bail.

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