A woman died along with her 24-week-old foetus while undergoing an ‘illegal’ termination of pregnancy at the district headquarter hospital in Jajpur.

The incident took place on Sunday and came to the fore after the husband of the deceased woman lodged a complaint with the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) regarding doctor’s negligence during the abortion that led to his wife’s death.

According to the reports, Mitu Malik (24) of Kothidiha village under Dharmasala police station in the district fell in love with Fula Malik (22) of his village. Both had allegedly been in a relationship. Mitu had apparently promised to marry the girl and kept a physical relationship with her. When the girl got to know that she was pregnant, she urged Mitu to marry her. Mitu married the girl in the court in the presence of the girl’s family and their relatives.

Problems started when Mitu brought Fula to his house as his family became reluctant to accept her as daughter-in-law as she was around 6 months pregnant. Mitu’s parents agreed to accept the daughter-in-law on the condition that she undergoes an abortion.

“The in-laws of my daughter refused to accept her as she was around 6 months pregnant. They agreed to accept her on condition that she conducts abortion of the child in her womb,” said father of Fula.

Mitu’s uncle contacted a woman broker at the district headquarters hospital at Jajpur town who assured of facilitating abortion at a fee of Rs 10,000.

Accordingly, Mitu took his wife to the district headquarters hospital with his uncle on Sunday. He also paid Rs 10,000 to the woman broker in presence of his uncle for conducting the abortion.

The woman broker took Fula to the gynecology department of the hospital. The abortion was conducted by a doctor and a nurse of the hospital on Sunday night but both the woman and her six-month-old foetus allegedly died during the abortion.

When contacted, Anup Kumar Nathsharma, Additional CDMO of the district headquarters hospital said, “It is an illegal abortion. We are looking into the allegations. Action will be taken against those found guilty.”

However, no FIR has been filed with the police in this connection so far.