The curious case of 17-year-old egg donor from Saki Naka who died over 7 years ago
Seven-and-a-half years since Sushma died, proceedings in the case are pending before the sessions court, the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra Medical Council and the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission.
Sushma’s mother Pramila Pandey (right) had accused the former’s employer of kidnapping and poisoning her. (Express photo)
At the time the death of 17-year-old Sushma Pandey came to light, it cast its shadow on the world of infertility clinics in Mumbai that were then governed by voluntary guidelines laid down by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR). That the teenager had donated her ova thrice was in itself contrary to the guidelines but whether a botched-up egg donation led to her death is a question that continues to lurk. Seven-and-a-half years since Sushma died, proceedings in the case are pending before the sessions court, the Bombay High Court, the Maharashtra Medical Council and the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission.
Scrap depot owner Sunil Chaumal, Sushma’s former employer, earlier accused of poisoning her, was discharged by the High Court in 2012. The discharge application of Samaullah Mustakin alias Shanu, who allegedly accompanied Sushma to the clinic, is pending before the High Court. Six doctors from Rotunda – The Centre for Human Reproduction in Bandra, including three anaesthetists, were granted anticipatory bail in the case. The hospital had maintained that Sushma was allowed to donate oocyte because she submitted a PAN card according to which she was 19 years old.
Sushma’s mother Pramila Pandey filed a complaint against Chaumal on August 11, 2010, accusing him of kidnapping and poisoning her daughter. The family said Sushma had not returned home from work on August 7, 2010. On August 9, the family said, Chaumal informed them that Sushma had been found but was feeling unwell. She was taken to Rajawadi Hospital. The next day she complained of abdominal pain again and was taken to the hospital and died hours later.
In March 2012, however, the High Court discharged Chaumal but observed, “Curiously, the chargesheet does not show that the investigating machinery had proceeded against Rotunda Hospital, which has a record of the victim being an egg donor on three occasions prior to the unfortunate incident, in flagrant violation of the requirement that such a donor has to be between the ages of 18 years and 35 years, when the victim was only 17 years on the last occasion… and she had been donating eggs for at least one-and-a-half years before this.”
When Sanaullah sought discharge, the court reprimanded the police for poor investigation and directed the police to investigate the case further. Speaking with The Indian Express, Kaushik Mhatre, Samaullah’s lawyer, said, “We have filed a fresh discharge application before the sessions court.” In 2014, a committee of doctors from the state-run JJ Hospital had concluded that there was no negligence on the part of Rotunda: The Centre for Human Reproduction.
In 2015, the Saki Naka police filed a supplementary chargesheet naming Dr Gautam Allahbadia, along with Dr Kaushal Kadam, Dr Gauri Gupta, who conducted the surgery, anaesthetist Dr Hetal Chabria, Dr Kirit Trivedi, and Dr Yogen Bhatt as accused. An agent, Noorjahan Munir, has also been named as accused in the supplementary. “All the doctors moved court for anticipatory bail and the court allowed their plea,” said an investigating officer.
The case was committed to the sessions court and the charges against the accused are yet to be framed. The ICMR guidelines state that an egg donor must be above 18 (later revised to 21 years) and less than 35 years of age. Pramila awaits answers to questions over her daughter’s death. “I want them (the guilty) to suffer the way I have been suffering, since I lost my young daughter,” she says. “Agar inhone nahin kiya toh kisne kiya,” she asked. While doctors have been booked, the agent Noorjahan, who was earlier a witness in the case, named as accused in the supplementary chargesheet and with Mustakin still not off the hook, Pramila will have to wait longer.
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