Botched Abortion: Self Proclaimed Ayurveda practitioner arrested after patient's death

following the woman’s death, the accused allegedly offered Rs 2.5 lakh to her family members and they did not lodge a police complaint. 

Coimbatore: A self-proclaimed traditional medicine practitioner has been arrested by the local police for allegedly conducting an abortion process which led to the death of a pregnant woman.

According to media reports, the accused a 57-year-old woman, who claimed to own Diploma in Ayurveda Medical Science was running a clinic at her residence at CM Nagar near Vadasithur.

The case concerned 37-year-old pregnant lady who approached the "practitioner" for aborting her 5-month-old foetus. The accused along with her son attempted to perform an abortion.

Read Also: Quack held for conducting sex determination tests, abortions, running clinic illegally

After availing treatment from her clinic, the patient experienced severe stomach pain and was taken to a government hospital where she was declared brought dead by the doctors.

TOI reports that following the woman’s death, the accused allegedly offered Rs 2.5 lakh to her family members and they did not lodge a police complaint. When the police came to know about the incident, they made the deceased patient's son to lodge a complaint against the accused woman who conducted the procedure and her son, who went into hiding.

Subsequently, the accused mother-son duo was booked under IPC Section 314 (death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage) of the Indian Penal Code.

The rural police formed a special team to nab the duo and the public health department sealed the clinic. The woman was arrested and sent to the Coimbatore Womens’ Central Jail while the son is on a run.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the public health department had two years ago, sealed the woman's ayurvedic centre. Officials had then found allopathy medicines at her centre, but she managed conditional bail from the court. “The case is still pending before court,” the officer informed.

They further official informed TOI that Muthulakshmi was a quack and she didn’t have any degree in ayurveda. He added, “We are trying to collect details regarding her son who also claims to be a ayurveda practitioner.”

“We are discussing with senior officials to lodge a complaint against Muthulakshmi. It’s tantamount to murder and we plan to approach police to book her under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC,” said a public health department official.