The owner of a private hospital in Bengaluru Rural District has been booked for allegedly conducting 74 unlawful abortions without proper authorization and for failing to maintain accurate abortion records.
While the illegal abortions at Aasare Hospital in Nelamangala resulted in a case being filed on February 20, the matter came to light on Wednesday. Presently, the hospital owner, Ravikumar NR, has escaped.
Dr. SR Manjunath, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, filed a complaint after uncovering irregularities during an inspection conducted on January 26. The FIR stated that the hospital has conducted these abortions without securing permission under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act since 2021.
In his complaint, Dr. SR Manjunath said that during the inspection and verification of records, it was found that the hospital had obtained a license valid until September 2026. The hospital has performed 74 illegal abortion procedures since 2021. It had not maintained records of the procedures performed, which is a gross violation under the MTP Act of 1971. Upon inspection, the inspection team also found that the hospital had not maintained any records of scanning reports. The hospital had not submitted details of any procedure to the district authority.
A police officer said that it was found that the hospital neglected to maintain an MTP admission register with abortion details and instead recorded it in the operation theater register, which is a breach of various sections of the MTP Act.
The investigation also revealed that despite the hospital being registered under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME), ultrasound reports were purportedly absent in 90 percent of case sheets. The operation theater register was also seized by the authorities.
The Nelamangala town police have charged Ravikumar under IPC sections 312 for causing miscarriage, 313 for causing miscarriage without a woman’s consent, 315 for an act done with intent to prevent a child from being born alive or to cause it to die after birth, and 316 for causing the death of a quick unborn child by an act amounting to culpable homicide.
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Komal Bhoi/MSM)