Two men, including a homeopathy practitioner, were arrested and a 15-year-old boy was detained this week in a rape and human trafficking case after a baby born to a rape survivor in Rajkot was allegedly sold off to a childless couple, police said on Saturday. Dr Ghanshyam Radadiya, a homeopathy practitioner, who runs a maternity home in a Rakot village, was arrested on Wednesday night hours after a woman filed a police complaint against him and three others. In her complaint, the woman alleged that Dr Radadiya, who runs a maternity home, oversaw her minor daughter's delivery on January 20 and kept custody of the newborn. The woman also alleged that her daughter had conceived the child after she was allegedly raped for months by her husband’s cousin, 20, and his uncle’s grandson, 15. While the 20-year-old accused was arrested, the juvenile has been sent to a special home for boys in Rajkot, said police. “Following the FIR, a court directed the (childless) couple to hand over the custody of the infant to an orphanage in Rajkot. Accordingly, the newborn was handed over to an orphanage on Friday,” a police officer told The Indian Express on Saturday. "The survivor and the accused live in houses that have common walls. The survivor's uncle and her cousin would force themselves in at her house when she was alone, threatening to kill her younger brother. The girl’s ordeal came to light only when her parents took her to a doctor after she complained of stomach ache and an ultrasound revealed that the girl was eight months pregnant,” said the officer. Police said when the girl’s father informed his two uncles about the incident, "one of the uncles, whose grandson was named by the minor girl as an accused, convinced her parents not to report the matter for the sake of family reputation". "He also convinced the couple that his grandson and his nephew would leave the village and wouldn’t return till the girl was married,” the officer further said. Police said that the father of the accused then took the survivor to Dr Radadiya’s maternity home on January 20. “Dr Radadiya offered to take care of the infant, saying he would charge Rs 70,000. The survivor's father’s uncle paid Dr Radadiya Rs 70,000 in cash and left the newborn at the maternity home. During the investigation, we came to know that the doctor had given the infant to a childless couple identified with the help of a local," the police officer said. Police said that the girl’s mother approached police after the two rape accused returned to the village within a month. “Based on the other complaint, we have booked the girl's cousin, and uncle, that cousin’s grandfather who had taken her to the maternity home for the delivery and the homeopath.” The four have been booked under sections 376(2)(f) (relative of a woman raping her), 376(2)(n) (raping a woman repeatedly), 376(3) (rape of a minor), 370 (human trafficking) and 506(2) (criminal intimidation) under the Indian Penal Code. “We arrested Dr Radadiya on Wednesday night. The following day, we resecured his remand for two days,” the police officer said, adding, “The doctor denies having sold the child. However, the fact that he charged Rs 70,000 for a normal delivery indicates his complicity in the crime.”
