50-year-old burnt the body of daughter, who died after her in-laws forced her to undergo an abortion because she was carrying a girl, in the middle of a road in Sangli outside their residence
The equipment recovered from the homoeopath's clinic in Mhaisal village, Sangli
Like any parent, Sunil Jadhav thought his children would light his pyre, and so, it broke his heart when he had to light his daughter's. But instead of doing it in a crematorium, he did it in a way her alleged killers would remember forever.
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The 50-year-old burnt the body of his daughter, who died after her in-laws forced her to undergo an abortion at the hands of a homoeopath because she was carrying a girl, in the middle of a road in Sangli outside their residence.
The victim's husband and the doctor have been arrested and investigation is on, the police said.
Sunil Jadhav lights his daughter Swati's pyre in front of her in-laws' house in Sangli
Burning anger
Hundreds of residents in Mhaisal village gathered in the middle of the night when they saw the pyre, but no one uttered a word; the heat of the bereaved family's fury was stronger than the flames.
Desperate for a boy, Swati's in-laws had allegedly tortured her, and on February 28, after getting a sex determination test done, forced her to abort the foetus, which led to her death on March 1.
"She was a cheerful girl, but gradually, became numb. They didn't allow us to meet her and kept on harassing her to give birth to a boy. So, we burnt her body in front of their house to ensure that they remember what they did to her," said Sunil.
Her brother Amar said, "Everybody wants a proper cremation for their departed loved ones for the peace of their souls, but we know that Swati won't be at peace until her in-laws are put behind bars. We hope they remember her burning body every day for the rest of their lives." "We will not stop until my sister gets justice. First, they told us that she died because of a heart attack; then, the post-mortem report revealed that she died because of a botched-up abortion," he added.
Probe underway
Deputy superintendent of police from Sangli Dhiral Patil confirmed the news but refused to comment further.
A female foeticide racket came to light when Swati's family lodged a police complaint against her husband Praveen. Investigation revealed that Dr Babasaheb Khidrapure (36), having a Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) degree from Mumbai university, had been conducting unauthorised abortions. As many as 19 female foeti were discovered at his Bharti clinic. Patil told mid-day that Dr Khidrapure had been running the racket for the last five years, charging Rs 20,000-25,000 for prenatal sex determination, and Rs 50,000 for illegal abortion.
"So far, we have recovered 19 female foeti, but the number could go higher; we can't comment on it until the investigation gets over," he added. The police have recovered expensive high-tech equipment from the clinic's backyard and also sealed a sonography centre belonging to the doctor in a village near the Karnataka border where he used to carry out sex determination of foeti.
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