Minor rescued from ‘illegal hospital’ sent home

JAIPUR: The 15-year-old girl, who was found locked in the basement of the illegally-run hospital in Churu’s Sandwa area, has been sent to her home on Sunday. She was rescued by the police and health department officials from a quack on Saturday.

She was first shifted to Sujangarh’s government hospital. “As her condition improved, she has been sent to her house,” the police said. Before the minor was rescued, the girl had been given three tablets of ‘safe abortion kit’ as there were only two tablets left in the five-tablet strip. Also, she was given intravenous fluid. The police said that the girl was accompanied by her grandmother.

An FIR has been filed against quack Om Prakash Prajapat, who admitted a minor girl for abortion in his “illegal hospital,” that was running without any licence. Also, Prajapat does not have any medical qualification.

In the initial investigation, the police have found that the accused has studied only till Class X and he does not have any qualification and licence to conduct abortion under Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act. From the kind of medicines, the police and the health department have recovered, the police are suspecting that illegal termination of pregnancies was his business.

PCPNDT Bureau of Investigation (PBI) station house officer Umesh Nitharwal, who rushed from Jaipur to Churu’s Sandwa, where the incident had occurred, said, “In our initial investigation, we found that the accused had performed termination of pregnancies earlier too. He had a room in the basement, where he admitted the minor girl for abortion.”

Now, they have filed an FIR against Prajapat under MTP Act at PBI police station. The quack, Om Prakash Prajawat, is absconding. He is a resident of Rawatsar of Hanumangarh district. “Our teams have raided his house in Hanumangarh but we did not find him. His mobile phone is also switched off,” he said.

The health department officials and the police had unearthed Prajapat’s illegal hospital on Saturday night. Till Sunday evening, the police and the health department did not find documents which show that he is a registered medical professional. “We have found that the accused was also running a medical store but on someone else’s licence. The drug controller office is investigating the matter,” the police said.