Police in Belagavi, along with officials from the health department, have uncovered yet another suspected illegal abortion racket in Hukkeri taluk. This comes nearly one-and-a-half years after a similar clinic was exposed in Kittur. A joint team recently conducted a raid at a house in Gumchinmaradi village, where a clinic was allegedly being run, and seized medical equipment and medicines believed to have been used for unlawful terminations. The accused, Razia Tanveer Ahmed Pathan, a native of Gokak and resident of Gumchinmaradi, was arrested.
According to police sources, Razia had been working for the past 13 years as a contract-based staff nurse at the primary health centre in Paschapur under the National Health Mission. She is alleged to have set up a small clinic in a room at her residence. The raid was carried out by the health department’s Scene of Crime Officer (SOCO) and Dr Bhushan Bannuri, medical officer of Badakundri PHC, along with police personnel. The accused was later produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.
The case surfaced during the probe of a separate complaint registered at Yamakanmaradi police station on January 2. The complaint was filed by the family of a 15-year-old girl against a 21-year-old man for alleged sexual assault. The accused youth was arrested and sent to judicial custody. During questioning, the minor reportedly told investigators that she had become pregnant and underwent an abortion at a clinic in Gumchinmaradi, identifying the location where the procedure allegedly took place. Acting on her statement, police and health officials conducted the raid.
Confirming the action, Yamakanmaradi police inspector Javed Mushapuri said both the alleged rapist and the staff nurse have been taken into custody in accordance with legal provisions.
In June 2024, authorities from the police, health, and revenue departments had similarly uncovered an illegal abortion racket in Kittur town, where skeletal remains of three foetuses were reportedly found buried within the premises of a clinic operated by a quack.
