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Girl who was forced to sell her eggs threatens suicide
In June, police arrested the mother and stepfather of the victim for taking her to private fertility centres to sell her oocytes.
A 16-year-old girl in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district, who was forced to sell her eggs to private fertility hospitals by her mother and stepfather, threatened suicide inside a government-run children’s home, police said on Saturday.
According to local authorities, the girl wanted to return home to her relatives, but her request was rejected as the investigation into the case is underway. However, police have dismissed the report of her consuming cleaning liquid.
“She just scared everyone by saying that she drank Lysol. We found out she hadn’t consumed anything because she was taken to the hospital immediately. Still, we kept her for observation,” a senior police officer investigating the case in Erode said.
The incident happened last week, and the child is now undergoing counselling. “She said she wanted to either go to her grandmother or to her aunt and uncle. They come and visit her, but they also have children so they don’t want to take her,” the officer said.
In June, police arrested the mother and stepfather of the victim for taking her to private fertility centres to sell her oocytes.
In her complaint, the girl said she was made to do this eight times since 2017. Her mother and stepfather received ₹20,000 during each of the visits. A woman intermediary also received ₹5000 as commission, while another man forged an Aadhar card for changing the child’s name and date of birth. These two have also been arrested.
The victim’s stepfather was sexually assaulting her for more than five years, according to the complaint. “We have charged the stepfather and the mother for abetting the repeated sexual assault under Pocso Act. Investigations and a medical assessment with regards to her eggs being sold are still ongoing,” the above-cited officer said.
In December 2021, the Lok Sabha passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, to regulate assisted reproductive technology services, and sperm and egg banks that have mushroomed across the country. The Bill seeks stringent punishment for those practising sex selection, sale of human embryos or gametes, or found running agencies, rackets and organisations for such practises in violation of the law.
As part of the assisted reproductive technology, a fertile woman donates an oocyte (in non-medical terms an egg) to another woman to help her conceive in an egg donation process, which involves a doctor removing an egg or eggs from the donor, fertilising them in a laboratory, and then transferring the resulting embryos into the recipient woman’s womb.
