Three held in Bengal for forcing woman to foetus sex test

Kolkata -  Three in-laws of a pregnant woman in West Bengal were arrested on a police complaint that she was tortured and pressurised by them to go for a pre-natal sex  determination test, police said Tuesday.

The 29-year-old housewife, Ranjana Prasad, along with her husband Rabindra Prasad had lodged the complaint before the Bally police station in Howrah district Aug 2, following which her  father-in-law Govind Prasad, mother-in-law Savitri and brother-in-law Ram Jatan Prasad were arrested.

The police, however, are still in dark about the medical centre where Ranjana was forced to undergo the test at an earlier occasion in 2010.

"We have arrested three people in the case and the probe is on. The hospital where she underwent the test earlier is still to be identified," Howrah Deputy Commissioner (Headquarters)  Nishat Pervez said.

Ranjana's husband Rabindra Prasad lodged the complaint after the woman was seriously beaten up by her in-laws after she refused to go for the test.

The complaint also alleged that Ranjana was forced to take the test in 2010 and subsequently made to abort after the results showed it was a baby girl.

The woman who had given birth to a girl in 2009 and conceived for a third time in November 2011, was allegedly being tortured and pressurised to undergo another sex determination test.