Thrown Out Like Garbage: Midwife arrested for dumping foetuses

KARACHI: A midwife identified as Nuzhat Aslam was arrested by the Mehmoodabad police on Thursday on suspicion of dumping five girls’ foetuses in Akhtar Colony on February 12. She was arrested after the police received a tip-off from Hameed, who was already in custody. He said that he dumped the foetuses where Nuzhat had told him to. Nuzhat was arrested from her clinic situated in Chakra Goth, Korangi. According to the Mehmoodabad SHO, she confessed that she carried out abortions and used to sell the foetuses to hospitals. Nuzhat said that another man, Iqbal, was also involved. The police have taken his son, Rizwan, into custody to try to get to the father. Scavengers had found two premature babies in a plastic jar and three more wrapped in shopping bags. One of them was about to be delivered. The bodies were taken to Jinnah hospital for autopsies.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2012.