A few months and Rs 4 lakh of medical expenses later, the couple are feeling cheated. Acting on their complaint, Puran Sigh Jassi, director, Health Services, Punjab has ordered an inquiry into the incident by the office of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Ludhiana.

The Sofats had claimed they had been able to reintroduce the menstrual cycle in the woman by administering hormones and later ovulation though the highly potent drug, Gonadotrophin.

Eyebrows went up in medical circles,but the Sofats stuck to their claim. They said they had fertilised a mature egg and a Y-sperm -- obtained by chromosomal separation to ensure a male child -- and then transferred the embryo to the uterus. The urine pregnancy test was positive after two weeks and an ultrasound scan had shown a live baby of six weeks, the doctors claimed.

But in May itself, Kaur, who had returned to her village in Ferozepur after the In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) process, had developed complications. The Ferozepur doctors she consulted suspected the pregnancy claim all along.When the complications persisted, a Dilatation and Curataz (D&C) was performed on her to clear what the Sofats called an ``incomplete abortion''. However, the histopathology conducted at Patiala on the removed mass did not confirm pregnancy.

The inquiry has reached nowhere as it was called off after a legal notice. Says the Ludhiana CMO, Dr G P Chander: ``We have stopped the inquiry after we received a legal notice from Dr Sofat challenging thequalifications of the inquiry team's members.''

The Sofats insist that the controversy has stemmed from professional jealousy. They cite other instances where old women had conceived with their help and had babies. They say that success rate in such cases is only two per cent. They claim that Kaur and her husband had been told about the risk and the couple chose to take a chance. Dr Sumeet Sofat insists that the woman had an ``incomplete abortion'' only because she had conceived. The doctor couple also doubt the histopathology report and say that the entire mass removed from Kaur's uterus was not sent for the test. Many doctors believe that the Sofat's ``cruel'' experiment and claim have led to an unnecessary controversy. Says a senior gynaecologist working at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGI) in Chandigarh: ``It is unwise to even attempt conception at such an old age. It is also unethical. We were flooded with inquiries from patients after reports about Sofats' claim appeared in themedia. We wasted precious time and energy on dealing with them.''

Dr Naresh Bassi, Secretary of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), says: ``A majority of professional colleagues do not believe the Sofats' claim. The IMA has received several critical letters on it.'' Bassi has demanded a Government inquiry by a team of competent doctors whose findings, he says, should be published.

The Sofats, interestingly, are not averse to the idea. They say they are all for such an inquiry but insist that it must be conducted by competent gynaecologists from reputed institutes such as the PGI.

But Karamjit Kaur who journeyed through despair, hope and nightmare says she has already been through enough embarrassment and won't have any more of it.