17 human foetuses, wrapped in polythene bags, have been found in a rubbish dump at Uluberia in Howrah, around 45 km from Kolkata, on Tuesday.
11 of the foetuses were girls, 6 boys while one was so underdeveloped that its gender ought to not be identified, police said. All the foetuses were despatched to Uluberia sub-divisional health facility for post-mortem.
“The fitness department has been informed and we are awaiting the autopsy document to probe further,” stated a senior police officer.
Sweepers of Uluberia Municipality spotted the foetuses whilst cleaning a garbage dump at Banitala Khanpara in ward 31 on Tuesday afternoon. There are around 25 nursing homes in the Uluberia Municipality area, all of whom are now beneath the scanner, district officers said.
The gestation restriction for abortions used to be closing year raised to 24 weeks from the earlier ceiling of 20 weeks but only for different categories of pregnant ladies such as rape or incest survivors. Women can also now terminate unwanted pregnancies precipitated by means of contraceptive failure, regardless of their marital status. Earlier the law targeted that only a “married girl and her husband” ought to do this.
