{"shapes": [{"geometry": {"y": 0.09777777777777778, "x": 0.9514285714285714, "width": 0.04285714285714293, "height": 0.09333333333333334}, "type": "rect"}], "src": "http://media2.intoday.in/indiatoday/images/stories/female-foeticide-350_061312121533.jpg", "context": "http://app.swtr.us/", "text": "Over the years, rural Maharashtra has been in the news for the large number of farmers choosing to take their own lives. Of late, however, the region is in the news for a different reason: female foetuses being found abandoned here.\n\nThe medical practice of Dr Sudam Munde and his ilk in Beed would have been flourishing had it not been for the death of 28-year-old Vijayamala Patekar who died while aborting what would have been her fifth child, a female, at Munde's clinic.\n\nThe shenanigans of Doctors Sudam Munde and his ironically-named wife Saraswati have lifted the lid off a well organised racket that was not just doing sex-determination tests but also aborting female foetuses.\n\nPredictably the state health administration, politicians, cops and the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) have rolled up their sleeves. The MMC is now making a huge brouhaha on how it is going to suspend the licenses of Munde and his wife under the Code of Medical Ethics. The move is a welcome one, though it is a long delayed one since this is not the first time that couple has been accused of the same crime.\n\nThe state government too has decided to crack down on such doctors. It has decided to give a cash reward of Rs.25,000 to those who give information on female foeticide.\n\nHowever it is still a tall order. Female infanticide remains a lucrative business. Doctors like Munde charge anything between Rs.20,000 and Rs.40,000 for sex-determination and abortion of a female foetus. Money that ensured that Munde had a bevy of musclemen guarding him 24/7 and owned acres of farm lands.\n\nMoney that ensures that despite the grave charges against him - of feeding the aborted foetus to dogs at his home - Munde and his family have still not been arrested.\n\nNot that Munde's arrest will solve the problem. After all cases against such doctors tend to remain inconclusive. At last count, there were around 300 such cases pending against doctors across the state. As cases drag on for years, the accused doctors simply come out on bail and continue to do what they had been doing. The state government is now trying to put a stop to this. Next month it will petition the Bombay High Court to have fasttrack courts to handle such cases. The courts should start with making an example of Munde and his wife.\n\n\nRead more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/crack-down-on-maharashtra-devil-doctors/1/200447.html"}