A study by the All-India Institute of Medical Scien-ces on medico-legal autopsy findings of 238 foetuses and newborns abandoned in the South Delhi area between 1996 and 2012 poi-nts to prevalence of f
A study by the All-India Institute of Medical Scien-ces on medico-legal autopsy findings of 238 foetuses and newborns abandoned in the South Delhi area between 1996 and 2012 poi-nts to prevalence of female foeticide in the national capital. The recent study by the country’s premier health institution also suggested that nearly 35 per cent of the cases in these 17 years were stillborn, 29 per cent were born alive and 36 per cent were born before the period of viability.
According to the study, among the total number of cases, males were predominant, but on closer examination it was observed that females outnumbered males among the foetuses of five-month (20 weeks) gestational age. Among the live births, death by homicide was more common than natural death and most were left by roadsides.
“Owing to societal bias in favour of males, this could mean that selective female foeticide happened during this period. In India, medical abortion is allowed only up to 20 weeks of gestational age and criminal abortions and selective female foeticide subsequent to antenatal sex determination are more likely before 20 weeks of pregnancy,” said Dr C. Behera, one of the co-authors of the study.
As per the study, among the 238 foetuses, 115 (48 per cent) were males and 110 (46 per cent) were females. Sex of the foetus could not be ascertained in 13 cases either due to early gestational age or due to the advanced stage of decomposition.
The study revealed that the place of disposal of the discarded foetus or a post-natal victim was mainly roadsides or blind lanes (40 per cent), followed by rivers and drains (20 per cent).
“Bodies were also recovered from dustbins, parks, jungles, railway stations, bus stands, religious places, schools and hospitals. The place of recovery could not be ascertained in 24 cases,” said the study, while calling for strict measures in cases of abandoning and killing of the newborns. This is the first study from India to discuss all forensically known cases of abandoned foetuses and newborns over 17 years in the South Delhi area, claims the study published in the latest issue of Medico-Legal Journal of the UK.
The study also found that abandoned foetuses and newborns constituted about 1 per cent (range, 0.54–1.82 per cent) of the total autopsies conducted during the 17-year period. A trend of a growing number of cases with increasing gestational age was also observed.
“Though we analysed autopsy reports of such cases in our own jurisdiction area, i.e. South Delhi, similar cases have also been reported in other areas. However, we do not have any definitive study on that. But I can tell you that 238 foetuses and newborns abandoned is only the tip of the iceberg for Delhi,” added Dr Behera.
Foeticide and abandonment of newborns are important, albeit frequently neglected, issues. Concealment of childbirth is often seen in the setting of unwanted pregnancy that has been recognised as one of the most important factors in both the cases.
Among the live-born cases, the majority of the deaths were attributed to murder (77 per cent), followed by natural causes (19 per cent) and accidental (1 per cent), the study said. The autopsy records showed that out of 70 newborns found abandoned in South Delhi during the 17-year period, 54 had been murdered, 45 had suffered injury on the head by a blunt force, five were smothered, three strangled and one had the throat slit, indicating a particularly cruel attitude.
