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390 baby bones found: 2 held
18/02/2007 22:26 - (SA)
Bhopal - Two people - one of them a hospital superintendent - were detained on Sunday, a day after police found 390 pieces of bones of newly born babies or foetuses in central India, officials said.
The grisly recovery was made on Saturday from a pit near a Christian missionary hospital, said JL Malpani, a local administrator of Ratlam district.
Ratlam police chief Satish Saxena said police conducted the search after a tip-off about illegal abortions being carried out at the hospital and the subsequent dumping of foetuses near it.
"The skulls and bones have been sent for forensic tests," said Saxena.
Police were probing whether this was a case of possible female foeticide, infanticide or illegal abortions, he added.
Despite laws banning sex determination tests, the killing of female foetuses is still common in India where there is a strong preference for boys.
"Though the skeletons are not intact, they appear to be of newborns or of aborted foetuses. It is difficult to ascertain their numbers or ages," Saxena said.
- AFP
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