 News
|
||||||
|
Baby-sale racket in the heart of Kurunegala town Police bust ‘medical centre’ where unmarried pregnant women had promised to handover their babies once they are delivered A newly married man from Kurunegala, who had to be away from home constantly, on work, one day returned home only to find that his wife had gone missing. A frantic search for his wife eventually led to the exposure of a major baby-selling racket involving unmarried women. A police investigation led to the shocking exposure that allegedly involves the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, a doctor who had been jailed previously for carrying out abortions and the arrest of five pregnant women whose babies were to be sold soon after birth.
The probe kicked off, after the man from Kurunegala had alerted the area’s Police Traffic Chief, Sujeewa Wijesinghe who in turn alerted Chief Inspector Anil Priyantha. According to the man who alerted the police, when he returned home one day he found that the house had been closed up and his neighbours informed him that his wife had not been too well and had gone to her parents. On being suspicious why his wife had not informed him about being sick, he had questioned one of his wife’s close friend who had reluctantly revealed that she had actually got herself admitted at a private medical centre, close to Kurunegala town for an abortion. Concerned about his wife, the man had told the police that he visited the medical centre. A visit to the medical centre revealed there were many other women there. He had tried to persuade his wife to return home, but the woman had confessed to an extramarital affair leading to the pregnancy.
The woman had divulged that those operating the centre had promised to take over the child, instead of performing an abortion and therefore she had decided to stay on until the confinement. She had claimed that the children were eventually sold to families who want children. The woman’s husband had then tipped off the police as he believed this was part of a bigger baby-selling racket. Inspector Sujeewa armed with a court order and assisted by Inspector Thilanga Balasuriya and two other women constables had raided the location operating under the name ‘Methsuwa Medura” in the Malkaduwawa area, close to the Kurunegala town. When questioned, the caretaker of the “Medical centre” had said that the inmates there had only come to receive treatment. The women who were being kept in separate rooms had eventually revealed the true purpose of their stay, after being questioned for more than an hour each. The five pregnant women who were taken into custody were from Giriulla, Wariyapola, Dambulla, Kegalle and Menikhinna area and were between the ages of 20 to 25 years. One of them was due to deliver this week while the others were three months pregnant. The caretaker of the place who claimed to be a doctor, and a resident of Ragama has been arrested, but the doctor who owned the place and who delivered the babies was absconding police said. “According to initial investigations these women are unmarried and had become pregnant while they were away on employment. The women had come there with the intention of undergoing abortions, but they were told to hand over the babies to them,” Chief Inspector, Anil Priyantha said. “The understanding was that once the baby was born he/she would be handed over to the centre while a payment was made to the women who were provided food and other medical needs ,” he said. Police are now trying to find out whether there were any other women who had given birth and delivered the babies to the Centre. Some of the mothers had been told that their children had died soon after birth. Police are investigating reports about child deaths and whether they have been recorded.The man under arrest who claimed he was a doctor was paid a monthly salary of Rs. 50,000 leading to speculation that the owner was earning much more from this so called ‘Medical Centre”. Police are also probing whether the centre was used for prostitution. Chief Inspect Priyantha said that they were also looking at the possible involvement of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, where some of these children were reported to have been born. Kurunegala Chief Magistrate Lalith Ekanayaka has remanded the five women and the so called ‘care taker’ until September 11, while a search is on for the main suspect.
| ||||||
Copyright © 2006 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
