Fruit therapy lands Kerala Prof in soup

Reacting to her petition, Chandy has asked the IGP (Northern Range) to personally probe the case. The Kerala Education Minister has also ordered a separate probe by a three-member committee headed by Dr A Sajeesh, a practising physician and member of the university syndicate. Nirmala has also moved the State Human Rights Commission.

Nirmala says she detected a lump on her breast in 2003 and opted for homeopathic treatment. Prof Baby, who holds regular naturopathy camps, convinced her that he could cure her disease through a special diet of fruits.

Nirmala alleged that he did not disclose it was cancer, and forbade her from going to any allopath or getting a biopsy done.

‘‘When the lump began turning into a painful sore, he kept telling me for months that it was a sign of healing. I was bedridden, and fellow students had to rush me to a hospital where doctors said it was breast cancer at a complicated stage. Doctors then performed an emergency mastectomy,’’ said Nirmala.

Prof Baby, however, insisted he did nothing wrong, even though he had no medical degree.

‘‘Putting a patient on a fruit diet legally needs no medical degree. We naturopaths don’t accept modern medicine’s malignancy theories and I am sure she would have been cured if people had not forced her to be taken to the hospital,’’ he told The Indian Express.